Update 6/17: The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to delay the Line Hotel’s tax abatement by one year. Lawmakers also voted to require the Department of Employment Services, which is reopening its audit, to release  materials in the case.

Original:

The company behind the Line Hotel is taking its fight over a massive tax abatement out of the wonky halls of the Wilson Building and into the court of public opinion, enlisting hotel workers and a sophisticated media campaign to make the case that it is owed millions of dollars from the city.

This afternoon, a couple dozen employees gathered on the steps of the Adams Morgan hotel for a press conference to pressure Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau. “Three-hundred jobs at risk: Nadeau needs to put Ward 1 first,” read one of the signs.

In 2010, the hotel’s developers struck a deal with the city: in exchange for hiring a certain number of D.C. residents and meeting several other conditions, they would get a $46 million tax break over a 20-year period. The boutique hotel—replete with three restaurants, two bars, a coffee shop, and a radio station—opened last year.

A city audit, however, found that the hotel didn’t meet its end of the bargain. That has triggered a showdown with the D.C. Council, which sought to redirect those funds toward badly needed public housing repairs.

Crawford Sherman, managing director of The Line, said that cancelling the tax abatement deal would have serious economic consequences for the business. The hotel would need to come up with around $100,000 in additional monthly revenue to make up for the loss, he said.

“It was offered to us way before we even took the project on and it’s built into our financial DNA,” Sherman said. “This year is probably the worst year that we’ve seen in ten years. We’re not making money at the moment.”

Sherman said that the city’s audit, conducted by Department of Employment Services, was never fully completed and that city officials should not rush to conclusions.

“We’re asking for the city council to wait for DOES to complete their audit,” he said. “[At-large Councilmember Elissa] Silverman and Nadeau jumped the gun and it’s almost like you’re guilty until proven innocent.”

The hotel also enlisted its employees, bringing around 50 workers wearing matching t-shirts to the press conference.

“Our jobs are in jeopardy and we’re fighting for it,” said Elliot Watkins, a front-desk employee at The Line, after speaking at the press conference. “We’re all rooted in this Adams Morgan community.”

And they have launched a website asking people to take action to “save D.C. jobs,” arguing that “there has been a lot of rhetoric, falsehoods, and spin around The LINE DC and its compliance with regulations set forth by the DC Council.”

Sherman wouldn’t elaborate about how many employees would be laid off if the tax-abatement deal is revoked.

“I look after my people,” Sherman told DCist. “We all work very closely together. I would do everything possible before I would have to lay off people.”

The D.C. Council is voting on a budget provision tomorrow that would reallocate this year’s funds from the tax abatement to public housing, but the question about the broader deal remains unsolved.

Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau stressed the importance of upholding the terms of the deal in an interview with DCist on Monday.

“I support the hotel and I certainly appreciate all it has brought to Adams Morgan, but it’s also my job to uphold the law,” Nadeau said. “It’s critical that we demonstrate that we’re serious about the provisions that we put into this tax abatement.”

Failing to enforce the terms of the deal would be a setback for this type of legislation, she said. “We’re talking about a tax abatement that was carefully crafted by many members of our community who feel incredibly passionately about each of the provisions within it.”

Nadeau said she has been in close contact with hotel management to figure out what might happen if The Line loses its abatement and discussed the issue with hotel workers at her office last week.

Alan Roth, a former chairman of the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission, argued that the hotel is using its workers as pawns and questioned the claim that the hotel is having financial difficulties.

“I think it’s pathetic when large companies use their employees in this way—trotting them out as exhibits,” Roth said, adding that the city shouldn’t have to pay for the hotel’s mistake. “I don’t think that taxpayers should be raked over the coals when the beneficiary is a hotel conglomerate in New York, when we have so many other needs in D.C.”

But Kia Ross, a hotel employee who grew up in Adams Morgan, said The Line brings diversity to a neighborhood that has experienced rapid changes.

“I would love to keep my job,” said Ross, who is currently pursuing a college degree. “I hope this taxation stuff won’t affect us. It’s actually kind of hard for a 20-year-old to get a new job here.”

Watkins said he was struggling to find work when The Line offered him a position. Since then, hotel management has promoted him twice, he said.

“They recognize the hard work and they appreciate it,” Watkins said. “I cannot speak enough of what it’s done for me and my family.”