Hotels Bid for Last Harbor Island Parcel : Resort: Port District wants first-class facility constructed on “can’t miss spot” on San Diego Bay.

There is only one site left on picturesque Harbor Island to build a luxury hotel, and on Tuesday four international hotel chains made their bids for it.

The proposals--from the Stouffer, Ritz-Carlton, Inter-Continental and Westin chains and development groups--are the result of the Port District’s decision last May to offer the eagerly sought property to hotel developers.

But not just any kind of hotel. What the Port District wants is resort-oriented, first-class hotel of 400 to 500 rooms, with restaurants and cocktail lounges, meeting and conference facilities, retail shops, tennis courts, swimming pools and extensive landscaping on a total of about 8 1/2 acres, an acre of which would be devoted to landscaped open space.

Right now, the property, between the Lockheed Ocean Laboratory and Sunroad Resort Marina on eastern Harbor Island, is used as a parking lot for rental cars.

Port District officials know that the land--coveted because it is near Lindbergh Field and offers panoramic views of San Diego Bay and downtown--is one of the agency’s premier waterfront locations--a “can’t miss spot,” in the words of one official.

The Port District called Tuesday’s special meeting at the Marriott Hotel so that the four groups could make formal presentations to the Board of Port Commissioners. The commissioners will select one proposal, or could potentially reject all four and solicit new bids, at their meeting next Tuesday.

Aside from setting design and development criteria, the Port District also has told the developers what it wants financially: In return for a 50-year lease, the winning hotel developer would be required to pay the Port District a minimum of $400,000 the first year; $800,000 each year in the second through 10th years, and $1.2 million from the 11th through the 20th years versus percentages of the hotel’s business.

Because of Harbor Island’s proximity to the airport, construction on the 7 1/2-acre hotel site would be limited to a height of 160 feet by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Brief descriptions of the proposals presented Tuesday:

* Stouffer--A 430-room, $77.4-million hotel built by the Boulder Creek Co., owned by San Diego developers R. Barry McComic and Gary S. Copson, chairman and president, respectively, of R. B. McComic Inc. The Stouffer Hotel Management Corp. would be hired to operate the hotel.

Other features would include a 15-story tower of about 372 rooms, 58 casitas (luxury suites) of up to 850 square feet and separate from the main tower, a 300-foot “swimming lagoon” and an 8-foot-high, 41,000-gallon seawater aquarium. In addition, the top of the main tower would house a restaurant, the only one of the four proposals to do so.

* Ritz-Carlton--A 400-room, $76.2-million facility proposed by Harbortel, a California partnership that has as its general partners P.R.P. Development Inc. and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.

Among the hotels the firm has developed and operates is the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel.

Highlights of the proposed Harbor Island hotel are a main 15-story tower and a $3-million budget for the purchase of artwork and antiques.

* Inter-Continental--A 485-room, $86.3-million hotel constructed by Inter-Continental Hotels Corp. One of the most-known top hotel chains in the world, Inter-Continental’s presentation was a bit ironic, as it was made in the same hotel that once carried its name.

The main hotel tower would be designed so that no room would face the Sheraton Harbor Island East, located across Harbor Island Drive from the site for the new hotel. Gossen also noted that Inter-Continental would be both the developer and operator of the hotel.

* Westin--A 500-room, $78.8-million hotel built by Tishman Development & Acquisition Associates, with Tishman Development Management Inc. and Aoki Realty Corp. acting as general partners.

John L. Tishman, head of Tishman Realty Construction Co. Inc., told commissioners his company’s chief partner in the Harbor Island proposal--Aoki--is a Japan-based construction company that recently paid $1.5 billion to buy the Westin hotel chain. As such, he said, the company would have a vested interest in making sure the hotel was properly operated.

Though the Port District said it wanted a resort-type hotel, Tishman said his company envisioned “an upscale business hotel,” noting an airport location doesn’t meet the resort criteria. Almost 70% of the project’s 834 parking spaces would be underground.