San Diego

The Centre City Development Corp.--the agency in charge of downtown redevelopment--agreed Friday to begin formal negotiations with Seaport Manfred Co. Inc. for the construction of the Roger Morris Plaza, a $120-million mixed-use project consisting of two high-rise towers across Harbor Drive from the new convention center.

The approval by the CCDC board of directors means the two sides will negotiate for 180 days in an attempt to reach agreement on a development contract. Such a contract would specify the responsibilities of both the developers and CCDC, which has land-use control over the waterfront Marina Redevelopment Area, where the project would be built.

Seaport Manfred’s development partner, the Ice Block Partnership, is the principal owner of the block bounded by 1st Avenue, Front and Island streets and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which is one of two blocks that would be developed.

The other adjacent block--bounded by Island, 1st, Front and the Santa Fe railroad tracks--is owned by other parties and, as a last resort, could be the focus of CCDC’s condemnation powers if they are unwilling to sell their property.

The proposal by Seaport Manfred, which last month was valued at $116 million but which has since increased to $120 million, includes a 25-story, 750-room hotel; a 15-story, 150-unit apartment building, and as much as 100,000 square feet of retail space. In all, including a four-level underground garage, the project comprises 747,000 square feet.

If everything goes according to schedule, the project would break ground late next year and be completed in 1991, two years after the convention center is finished, said Roger Manfred, president and chief executive officer of Seaport Manfred.

The average room rate at the hotel would be $85 a night, he said. The apartments, all two-bedroom units totaling 1,125 square feet, would be built to condominium specifications and would rent at $1,500 a month.

The project would be privately financed, according to Manfred.