San Diego port commissioners have stopped short of dropping Douglas Manchester from the plan to develop Lane Field after recent negotiations steered them to a competing proposal.
The commission, which last month scolded Manchester Financial Group for missing a deadline to secure financing, rejected a recommendation to exclude the local hotelier from the mix and enter into exclusive talks with a consortium of developers.
Instead, commissioners made the unusual decision of putting the two in a sort of 60-day competition for the high profile waterfront project.
Planners from the San Diego Unified Port District may negotiate with either or both groups during the next two months and will give a progress report on the project in 30 days, according to a decision made by commissioners at a meeting Tuesday.
Roughly 6 acres at Broadway and Harbor Drive, the Lane Field project calls for up to two bayfront hotels, shops, restaurants, parking spaces and landscaped areas. A new cruise ship terminal planned for the site is not included in the project.
Port Commission Chairman Robert “Rocky” Spane said opening negotiations with another team makes sense, but he said he was uneasy about any effort “to play one off the other.” He added, “It doesn't feel good.”
Perry Dealy of Manchester Financial Group called the commission's decision “a little bit unfortunate.”
“We are not pleased,” Dealy said. “I think the message is, a lot of confusion.”
Manchester built the Manchester Grand Hyatt towers and the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina and has a significant presence downtown. The Navy chose the firm to develop hotels, offices and retail shops at the 14.7-acre Navy Broadway Complex site down the street from the Lane Field site. The prolific developer initially lost the Lane Field project to Viejas Enterprises, which ended up partnering with Manchester.
After Manchester and Viejas missed a 90-day deadline to secure financing last month, port commissioners reluctantly granted them a 30-day extension. But during that time, the Port District opened negotiations with other developers.
Manchester submitted a proposal within 30 days, with revisions submitted minutes after Tuesday's meeting began. But a competing proposal won favor from the Port District staff.
“They gave us a better proposal that was way closer to what we wanted,” said Karen Weymann, assistant director of real estate for the port district. She said the two proposals were substantially different, though details were not released.
The proposal came from a consortium that includes Hardage Hotels LLC, Langford and Associates, Phelps Development Co. and CW Clark.
“We have the strongest team and the deepest financial resources and strongest motivation to make this project timely,” said Sam Hardage of Hardage Suite Hotels, who is also proposing to build a time-share hotel on Harbor Island.
Hardage is known for building “all-suites” hotels. At one point, Manchester had planned such a hotel on the Navy Broadway site and had noted that it would not compete directly with the conventional business hotel on the drawing boards at Lane Field.
Maureen Magee: (619) 293-1369; maureen.magee@uniontrib.com
