San Diego : Port to Rule on Deadline for Hotel Tower
A proposal to give developer Doug Manchester a four-month extension to arrange financing for a second Hotel Inter-Continental tower adjacent to the proposed convention center site at Navy Field will be considered by the San Diego Unified Port District on Monday.
The proposed extension, which would push back Manchester’s current June 1 deadline for arranging financing for the 700-plus-room hotel to Oct. 1, is recommended in a report prepared by Port Commissioner William Rick.
Rick and two other commissioners--Ben Cohen and Phil Creaser--re-examined the financing deadline issue after the collapse of Manchester’s original financing plans.
Manchester had planned to finance development of the second hotel with a loan from the Beverly Hills Savings & Loan Assn. However, federal banking regulators seized Beverly Hills Savings on April 23, saying it was insolvent and operating in an “unsafe and unsound condition.” The seizure followed reports that it is facing a loss of about $100 million in 1984, primarily because of bad real estate loans.
Manchester “really was in a tough spot,” Rick said. “You don’t have to love him to feel sympathy for him.”
The proposal not only gives Manchester four additional months to line up financing for the project, but also specifies performance criteria--such as deadlines for bonding and construction timetables--that the developer must meet.
“This would not make things easy for him,” Rick said, “but it’s an answer to the problem.”
Revenue from a second Hotel Inter-Continental tower is considered vital to the economic well-being of the convention center, which could cost the Port District as much as $125 million to build. Ground breaking on the center, to be built on port land near Seaport Village, is scheduled for later this month.
