Oceanside's downtown luxury hotel to be costly

By: CHRIS TRIBBEY - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 11:10 PM PST ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- The city's fourth try in 25 years to land a luxury hotel by the municipal pier is looking more successful by the day, but the developer of the proposed Westin resort straddling Mission Avenue gave the city something to worry about Wednesday: the price.

While S.D. Malkin Properties is still working up financial projections for its three-building, 302-room project, developer Jeremy Cohen said huge increases in the cost for steel, concrete and glass are cause for concern.

"We not only have to deal with the extraordinary, breathtaking rise in the last two years, but also the growth in the coming years," Cohen said. But he added quickly that S.D. Malkin hasn't cut back on any of the grand plans for the resort, which were shared with the City Council and the public Wednesday night.

"If you're going to change people's perception of Oceanside, you can't go halfway," he said.

Renderings of the building shared with the public show three beautiful buildings on the 2.75-acre, two-block parcel S.D. Malkin will lease from the city, topping out at 86 feet and seven and eight stories high.

Ninety percent of the rooms would face the ocean and two pools ---- one on the third floor of the north building ---- are prominent. Two levels of underground parking, running under Mission Avenue and both blocks, would include 610 parking spaces, and a ballroom with ceilings 26 feet high would fit hundreds of dancers.

The famed Top Gun house ---- the wooden Pacific Street house made famous by the 1986 Tom Cruise film ---- would be incorporated into the project, most likely as a bar and waiting area for a restaurant facing the ocean at the building on the north block. And ocean views looking west on Pier View Way and Seagaze Drive would be preserved, Cohen promised.

Bars, restaurants and room for retail shops are plentiful in the plans, and a large garden will be open to the public. The project will be bounded by Pier View, Seagaze, Myers Street and Pacific.

"I know you're a perfectionist, and I see that in the building," Mayor Jim Wood told Cohen. While both Councilman Jack Feller and Councilwoman Esther Sanchez expressed some concern about construction costs, everyone complimented S.D. Malkin on its proposal.

With the hope of opening the resort in late 2009, the city has projected at least $13 million in lease revenue over the first 20 years of the hotel's existence, and the amount of transit occupancy tax the city can expect is being calculated.

All in all, city officials are very upbeat about the project and its chances of becoming reality. It's drawn very few comparisons to the disastrous Manchester Resorts proposal, which cost Oceanside $2.2 million when the city settled lawsuits filed after the Coastal Commission rejected plans for the 475-room, 12-story beachfront hotel.

Because the S.D. Malkin project won't require any amendments to the city's planning document for coastal construction, the Local Coastal plan, council members said they're sure the Coastal Commission won't object to the developer's plans.

Also Wednesday night, before the S.D. Malkin presentation, council members selected four new Planning Commission members to serve through 2010.

With only Feller and Councilwoman Shari Mackin asking questions, 10 candidates told the council why they believed they were qualified to serve as planning commissioners. After two votes, the council appointed longtime resident Louise Balma, former Harvard professor Victoria Beach, retiree Bernard Dick Blom, and college economics teacher Dennis Martinek.

Contact staff writer Chris Tribbey at (760) 901-4067 or ctribbey@nctimes.com.

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