OCEANSIDE —— A planned beach resort near the Oceanside pier will be a tourist magnet, a financial boon and a catalyst that triggers more classy developments and downtown revitalization, officials said last week.

This isn't the first time Oceanside has appeared on the brink of landing a luxury hotel downtown. Since 1980, at least three other developers have come to town with big plans for pier-side hotels that never got built.

But this time is different, officials say, because Oceanside has learned from past mistakes.

"(The hotel) will definitely help to create a really marvelous nucleus to the whole downtown area," said Jeremy Cohen, senior vice president of S.D. Malkin Properties Inc. After a yearlong selection process, the City Council voted 4-0 last week to enter into negotiations with Malkin.

Malkin's proposal calls for a 302-room Westin hotel that would be built on a city-owned, 2.75-acre site split by Mission Avenue near the Oceanside Municipal Pier. The proposed seven-story resort would also include 72 time shares, 670 parking spots, 25,960 square feet of meeting and banquet space, and 24,090 square feet of commercial space.

When discussing the planned hotel, Oceanside officials and consultants the city hired use phrases such as "landmark project" and "crown jewel," saying the planned resort will create a "vibrant, urban village" downtown.

"It will basically reflect on the image of Oceanside for the next 50 years," City Manager Steve Jepsen said of the hotel, which officials have said they hope to open by the end of 2009.

Be our guest

The proposed Westin, which would cost upward of $100 million to build, is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors a year to Oceanside, officials said, giving a hefty jolt to the city's economy.

Cohen said there's "no question" that hotel guests would drop millions of dollars a year in Oceanside.

"They'll spend it in the (downtown) area," he said. "They'll spend it at the harbor. They'll spend it at restaurants and shops."

Once that money is pumped into Oceanside's economy, it will change hands several times, increasing commerce and boosting tax revenue, officials said.

"That's what tourism's all about," Jepsen said.

David Nydegger, chief executive officer of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, agreed, saying that "when a dollar gets injected into an economy, it multiplies."

For instance, the chamber chief said, when a tourist pays his hotel bill, the hotelier then pays his desk manager, who tithes part of his salary at church, where the pastor uses that money to buy soda for a picnic enjoyed by several residents.

"The pass-along factor is just awesome," Nydegger said.

Spinoff development

In anticipation of serving tens of thousands of vacationers each year, several high-quality restaurateurs, coffee shops and retail stores will set up shop in Oceanside, officials said.

"It's certainly going to draw in some higher-end businesses," Nydegger said.

Jay Scott, of city-hired Scott Hospitality Consultants, said the Westin would "automatically establish the benchmark for quality in this location."

Jane McVey, Oceanside's director of economic development and redevelopment, echoed that prediction, saying that "the quality and the caliber of what you put (downtown) … sets the bar (and) sets the tone for what else goes down there."

Many of those planned downtown developments, McVey said, would be built by San Diego developer CityMark, which owns five parcels near the planned hotel site. Four of the parcels are bounded by Cleveland and Myers Street, Seagaze Drive and Pier View Way, with the fifth lying east of Pier View Way, between Myers Street and the railroad tracks.

While CityMark is still contemplating the details of its proposed development, it would be made up of several mixed-use projects that include hundreds of condominiums, small retail stores, coffee shops and restaurants, said CityMark President Rich Gustafson.

Gustafson said his projects will create "a lot more excitement and sizzle and urban nightlife in downtown Oceanside."

Gustafson said the details of CityMark's project depend on the planned hotel, because CityMark's land lies within a nine-block area for which Oceanside has a master plan requiring 240 hotel rooms.

Once Malkin starts building its proposed 302-room Westin —— officials estimate that will happen in 2008 —— CityMark would be off the hook for its share of the coastal area's hotel rooms, McVey said. But if CityMark starts construction before the planned resort is built, it would have to include about 133 hotel rooms in its mixed-use projects.

Cleaning up

Cohen said that as the hotel development moves forward, existing retail shops and restaurants will fix themselves up in anticipation of the tourism boom.

Many downtown homeowners and businessmen will take more pride in ownership, Nydegger said, saying he expects several already-excellent downtown restaurants, such as Pasta Mia, to "really take off" when the hotel comes to town.

"It's really going to help them out," he said.

Gustafson said he expects the downtown area to be transformed into "an urban village" with a "contemporary, hip feel" as new businesses come to town and existing shops improve themselves to keep pace with the increasingly prosperous community.

Crime would also dwindle, as residents invested in Oceanside's downtown work to create a safer neighborhood, officials said.

The planned hotel and the resulting anticipated economic upturn that would draw more businesses to Oceanside would also create hundreds of jobs, officials said.

That includes positions for housekeepers, a wait staff, restaurant and retail store employees, managers and marketers, Nydegger said.

Tax revenue

Officials said the planned hotel will also be an economic engine that directly pumps millions of dollars a year into city coffers and downtown projects.

Malkin's proposed hotel is expected to net Oceanside $36.3 million during the resort's first 20 years, according to a financial forecast prepared by consultant Keyser Marston Associates. That income would come from lease revenue from the land, along with hotel, property and sales taxes.

Officials said the city's annual revenue from the hotel will rise as the resort stabilizes its occupancy rates at about 75 percent and develops a reputation as a popular tourist destination and location for corporate meetings and conferences.

Scott said that in its seventh year, Malkin's project would produce more than $2 million annually in hotel and sales taxes that would go directly to Oceanside's general fund. The city anticipates $90.2 million in general fund revenue for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

Revenue from lease payments and property taxes, also estimated at more than $2 million a year, would go to Oceanside's redevelopment agency.

Redevelopment agencies, typically created to help revitalize blighted areas, allow cities to receive a larger portion of property taxes levied on new buildings, or on buildings whose values go up after a redevelopment area is created.

When Oceanside's redevelopment agency was formed 30 years ago, much of the downtown area was a railroad switching yard. Officials said money collected by the redevelopment agency is reinvested in other downtown projects such as parking garages, landscaping and sidewalk replacement.

Wooing guests

Some officials said the planned hotel would be able to lure guests through word-of-mouth. Nydegger said visitors who come from land-locked locations such as Northfork, Idaho to wade in Oceanside's waters during winter months will surely spread the word about their "beautiful, gorgeous, January day in Oceanside."

Cohen said S.D. Malkin would aggressively market the hotel across the country, spending a lot of money trying to get good publicity for Oceanside's Westin. That would include paying travel writers to come stay at the hotel, Cohen said.

The developer said his firm would work hard to create a unique and memorable hotel that would spur other improvements in Oceanside's downtown, so that the planned Westin and its surrounding neighborhood win high marks from those hotel reviewers.

"People will say, 'My God, has Oceanside turned around,' " Cohen said.

Contact staff writer Ben Frumin at (760) 901-4067 or bfrumin@nctimes.com.