Hawthorne : City Seeks New Developer

City officials are negotiating with Watt Investment Properties to develop a 20-acre redevelopment site just west of the San Diego Freeway after negotiations between the city and Andrex Development Co. broke down last month.

City Manager R. Kenneth Jue said Andrex officials told him only that they are no longer interested in the project. Howard Mann, a co-owner of Andrex, could not be reached for comment.

Andrex, which was selected last April from among eight companies, proposed a 900,000-square-foot complex that included a 14-story, 256-room hotel, a low-rise hotel of 206 rooms, a 16-story office tower and three restaurants at a cost of $125 million.

Watt Investment, which was the city’s second choice, proposed a $185 million, 1.3-million-square-foot project that would include two 16-story office towers, four other office buildings and a 300-room hotel.

James R. Wadsworth, senior vice president of Watt Investment, said some changes would be made on the original proposal but that no final decisions have been made.

Wadsworth also said the company has not changed its position of wanting the city to acquire parcels and hold them until they could be turned over in large batches. Andrex had agreed to accept the parcels as soon as the city acquired them, which would have substantially reduced the city’s costs.