PORT ANGELES — Preliminary construction costs for the proposed Marriott hotel/conference center should be ready by the end of the month, its developer told a city oversight committee Monday.
With those costs in hand, Randall Jay Ehm says he can develop full project costs and either continue refining the project or send it out to investors, Ehm told the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.
Ehm, president of Ehm Architecture of San Diego, has proposed a $17.5 million full-service Marriott hotel with 171 rooms and 14,000 square feet of banquet and high-tech meeting space that could handle 800 to 1,000 conferees on 3.8 waterfront acres at the corner of Oak and Front streets.
City Economic Development Director Tim Smith said the detailed costs would allow him to develop a more detailed schedule for Ehm to follow in addition to a Sept. 4 deadline to begin construction.
That would finalize the deal and ensure delivery of the $100,000 in annual bed tax revenues promised to Ehm by the city, Smith said.
The committee should meet again in mid-May to review a draft of that schedule prior to Ehm’s next scheduled update on June 21-22, Smith said.
“It’s fair to say there’s an opportunity to put this financing together based upon Ehm’s confidential report,” he said.
The City Council gave Ehm deadlines of March 28 to apply for a building permit — which was met — and Sept. 4 to begin construction.
If Ehm misses the Sept. 4 mark, the city could reconsider its offer of a 20-year, $100,000 annual subsidy from hotel-motel bed tax revenues to pay for marketing the conference center.
