Partnership Proved the Key : Reality Finally in Sight for Aventine Project
Since its developer joined forces with three heavyweight Japanese investors, the Aventine hotel-office project in the Golden Triangle area is finally on the way to becoming a reality, four years after The Naiman Co. conceptualized the project.
The developing partnership, Aventine Partners, has secured a construction loan from Long Term Credit Bank of Japan and will begin construction on the $147-million project May 23, administrative project manager Robert Fox said Monday.
San Diego-based Naiman, which for four years has had control of the 11.2-acre Aventine site at the southeast quadrant of Interstate 5 at La Jolla Village Drive, formed a partnership late last year with Shimizu Construction of Tokyo, Nissho Iwai of Tokyo, and TSA International of Tokyo and Honolulu.
Construction will start simultaneously on the two main elements of the project: a 15-story, 400-room Hyatt Regency hotel and a 212,000-square-foot, 11-story office building. The project will also include three restaurants and a health club. Nielsen Construction Co. is general contractor. Completion is set for late 1989.
The project’s designer is well-known architect Michael Graves of Princeton, N.J., whose striking neo-modern plans for the Aventine, which feature a Roman motif, have attracted much comment.
After years of planning and the search for financing by principal Jack Naiman, Aventine had not come together until Naiman formed a business relationship with the three Japanese firms.
Shimizu is one of Japan’s “Big Five” construction companies, posting 1986 revenue of $7 billion, the last year for which figures were available. Shimizu made an inroad into the U.S. construction market last year by buying a minority interest in Dillingham Construction of Pleasanton.
Shimizu has been aggressive in forming joint ventures with foreign development partners. Among them is a 1985 agreement with Beverly Enterprises of Pasadena to build retirement housing in Japan. The company also has a deal with a Chinese firm to build a 30-story office building in Kangzhou, China.
Nissho Iwai, a trading company, is involved in several ventures with Shimizu, including the office building in Kangzhou and a condominium project for foreigners in Beijing. The two companies are also investors in a multimillion-dollar venture to establish a new telephone paging service in Tokyo.
Hawaii Developments
The third Japanese partner in Aventine, TSA International, is a hotel-resort development firm with offices in Japan and Hawaii. TSA is building Westin hotels on Maui and Kauai and a 1,400-room Hyatt on the island of Hawaii. It has formed partnerships with Hawaii-based developer Chris Hemmeter to build several of its projects.
TSA is also a partner with Hawaii developer Bruce Stark in a $1-billion residential project, Davids Island in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Hyatt will operate the Aventine hotel but will not own equity in the project. Spokeswoman Carrie Reckert said the chain, which is owned by the Pritzker family of Chicago, runs 93 hotels in the United States with a total of 49,000 rooms.
Hyatt is also negotiating with Torrey Enterprises of La Jolla to operate a hotel on land owned by the San Diego Unified Port District, adjacent to the San Diego Marriott downtown.
A landscape architect has yet to be selected for the Aventine project. None of Aventine’s office space has been leased yet, said Fox, the project manager, but a leasing agent to market the building will be selected later this week.
Naiman, 46, also developed the San Diego Tech Center, a 635,000-square-foot office complex in Sorrento Valley.
