BATON ROUGE, La. -- The State Bond Commission has agreed to a $225 million borrowing plan to renovate the shuttered Hyatt Regency New Orleans hotel.

The 31-story hotel in the Central Business District has been closed since Hurricane Katrina, but it was recently bought by Poydras Properties Hotel Holdings Co.

Poydras Properties will use tax-exempt bonds available through the federal Gulf Opportunity Zone Act to renovate the hotel. The Bond Commission on Thursday agreed to the final GO Zone borrowing amount.

The hotel is expected to create 500 new jobs when it opens in 2009.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)