Port Lengthens Hotel Deadlines--but Not What Builder Sought
Playing political hardball with developer Doug Manchester, the San Diego Unified Port District extended deadlines Tuesday relating to Manchester’s plans for a third waterfront hotel, but by a much shorter period than the developer had sought.
By a 4-3 vote, commissioners postponed the dates for Manchester to complete so-called “working drawings” and to secure financing for the third hotel, to be built next to the proposed convention center. However, the extension of the critical financing deadline was nine months shorter than Manchester argued that he deserved because of delays in construction of the convention center.
After the vote, several commissioners admitted that the vote reflected their displeasure with Manchester, who has sued the Port District over the convention center delays and recently had tried to sell his option to build the third hotel, which he acquired for $100, for $15 million.
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” said Commissioner Louis Wolfsheimer, who favored holding Manchester to even tighter deadlines on the third hotel.
Last month, the port postponed Manchester’s deadline for presenting preliminary plans for the third hotel to April 2 from Feb. 27 but delayed until Tuesday a decision on his request to extend the Aug. 31 working drawing and Oct. 31 financing deadlines.
Chris Neils, Manchester’s attorney, asked the port Tuesday to delay the working drawing deadline until 11 months after the port approved the preliminary plans or awarded a convention center construction contract, whichever came later. Under that proposed schedule, the drawing deadline would have been pushed back until at least the spring of 1988.
Saying that the port “has not lived up to its part of the bargain” because of the convention center delays--prompted primarily by construction bids that came in millions of dollars above projections last year--Neils also requested that the hotel’s financing deadline be postponed until Jan. 31, 1989.
That postponement, Neils argued, would put the hotel’s schedule “back in closer sync” with the convention center’s construction. The port is scheduled to open new construction bids for the convention center today and expects the center to be completed in early 1989.
Commissioner Phil Creaser supported the proposed extensions, describing them as “reasonable relief . . . that will not damage our position in any way.”
But in an acerbic rejoinder, Wolfsheimer argued that Manchester, who has built the twin-tower Hotel Inter-Continental on the waterfront site, has been not been nearly so reasonable in his dealings with the port.
“It’s difficult for me to understand why (Manchester’s company) should not be forced to live up to its bargain that it made . . . when on the other hand, he is holding our feet to the fire saying he interprets the contract to mean we should have gone ahead with the convention center, no matter what,” Wolfsheimer said.
Along with Wolfsheimer, Commissioners Bill Rick, Mel Portwood and Delton Reopelle voted against the extension to defeat it 4-3. By the same 4-3 margin, with Wolfsheimer, Rick and Ray Burk in opposition, the commissioners then approved a staff recommendation to postpone the working drawings deadline to Feb. 2, 1988, and the financing date to May 2, 1988.
“I’m disappointed they didn’t grant us the extension we requested,” Manchester said after the meeting.
Tuesday’s debate over the third hotel’s timetable came after the collapse of Manchester’s plan to sell the option to Seaport Manfred Co. Inc. The port last month postponed a decision on whether to approve that sale, which several port commissioners and San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor argued would have provided Manchester with a $15-million windfall through speculation on public property.
When Seaport Manfred announced two weeks ago that it had withdrawn its offer to buy Manchester’s option, the developer said he will no longer try to sell it and will proceed with his obligation to build the third hotel.
