Jefferson City convention center decision to come in Sept.

Jefferson City leaders expect to pick a company to develop a convention center by Sept. 5.

City council members met behind closed doors at City Hall on Monday evening, hearing from the two companies still in the running to be the developer for the center.

The public, and reporters, were not allowed into the meeting.

City manager Nathan Nickolaus told an ABC 17 News crew outside the meeting the council had a chance to further interact with developers, but said he couldn’t go into further details.

The Ehrhardt Group of Hannibal and the Farmer Holding Company from Jefferson City both unveiled their proposals in June.

Drury Hotels voluntarily pulled themselves out of the selection process earlier that month because it didn’t believe the facility could pay for itself.

The city has said it would like to see the convention center built either on the river bluff near the old Missouri State Penitentiary or on land owned by the state on McCarthy Street.