Hole or hotel?

So, in keeping with one of my main blog themes, "urban renewal," I thought I'd share one of the controversies broiling in my neighborhood right now. The picture below shows a big hole in the ground between two buildings. This waterfront location used to be purely industrial - and not pretty. I won't go into its sordid history. But the city has worked hard to create a nice public walkway, a marina, and luxury high-density residential buildings.

This big hole in the ground remains, though. It seems that after a years-long court battle, a developer finally has the go-ahead to build a Marriott Residence Inn here.

But a lot of people are against it, because A) the hotel management has said they will not be hiring union hotel workers, and B) some people think this location needs a hotel that's "classier" than a Residence Inn (see picture below).

So as the controversy goes on...there's still a hole.