San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer this morning announced a two-year agreement that will keep Comic-Con International in the city through 2018. The previous contract was set to expire next year.

The deal is the result of months of negotiations involving the mayor, Comic-Con organizers, the San Diego Tourism Authority and hoteliers after a planned $520 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center collapsed in August 2014.

The project would have added 740,000 square feet of exhibit space, a five-acre rooftop park, a waterfront promenade with retail shops and restaurants, and a second, 500-room tower to the adjacent Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. However, a California appeals court ruled that a hotel tax intended to pay for the bulk of the costs was unconstitutional.

With no alternative funding plan, the tourism agency again turned to area hotels, asking them to ensure the same number of discounted rooms at the same rates for the next two years freeze their rates at the 2016 level. While 30 of the 50 participating hotels quickly agreed to do so, some reportedly dragged their heels, leading to doubts as to whether an announcement about Comic-Con's future in San Diego would be made before this year's event kicked off next week.

Drawing more than 130,000 attendees and injecting an estimated $136 million annually into the local economy. Comic-Con long ago outgrew the San Diego Convention Center. That problem has been alleviated somewhat by the utilization of outdoor areas as well as conference rooms at the nearby Hilton San Diego Bayfront for some programming. However, even as convention organizers sought solutions to their space woes, they've been repeatedly courted by Los Angeles and Anaheim, California, which offer significantly larger venues.

This year's Comic-Con will be held July 9-12, with Preview Night on July 8.