After nearly six months without a full-service hotel, the University of North Texas is reviewing the six proposals received from hotel developers and operators in response to the school’s call to bring a “first-class,” full-service hotel to campus.

The request for proposals was sent to 60 local and national hotel development companies by the university last month, said Milton “Pat” Howell, special assistant to UNT President Gretchen Bataille and engineer on the project.

Denton Record-Chronicle file photo/Barron Ludlum

The University of North Texas has begun courting hotel developers interested in the former site of the Radisson Hotel, which lies on 10 acres off Interstate 35E. Milton "Pat" Howell, an engineer on the project, said a call for proposals was sent to 60 companies. UNT is looking at six proposals.

View larger More photos Photo store

The companies were asked to make suggestions on how to develop the site, which lies on 10 acres on the south side of the frontage road off Interstate 35E, west of North Texas Boulevard, by either tearing down the former Radisson building or renovating it.

Developers also were asked to find a method for financing the project and help design the overall project. The hotel could share parking with the new football stadium.

The operational information in the proposals also is important, said Howell.

“Right now we have no preconceived notion about what that would be,” he said. “We asked for a first-class hotel and the definition is still yet to be determined.”

That definition of a high-end, first-class hotel will be decided by a committee, which is yet to be named, over the month of November and possibly into December.

A final decision on a hotel developer and operator is expected Jan. 1, said Howell.

But a development time frame for the project is still undetermined, he said.

“It could be anywhere from a one-year development period to a several-year development period,” Howell said.

It all depends on the answer to the question: Renovation or rebuilding?

“We don’t even know if these six proposals are OK,” Howell said. “It is really iffy as we go through this process of evaluation.”

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889.