OCEANSIDE - Work on a possible move to Oceanside by the San Diego Chargers is in a holding pattern until the results of site studies in Chula Vista and Oceanside are complete, Mark Fabiani, lead negotiator for the National Football League team, said this week.

The Chula Vista study will evaluate two potential stadium locations in that rapidly growing South Bay city - one on the eastern edge of town and another on San Diego Bay, which is now home to a power plant. Fabiani said the team is waiting for the study, which is being paid for by the Chargers, to be released publicly.

"We're a little stymied by the delay in the Chula Vista study," Fabiani said. "We hope in the next month, people have a chance to see that. Based on the reaction, we can either eliminate or move forward with that possibility."

Chula Vista's planning director, Jim Sandoval, said Wednesday that the plan, which was supposed to be out in May, has been delayed because the consultant and the city want to make sure that the information it contains accurately represents the city. He said he expects it to be available for the public by the end of August.

As for Oceanside, the Chargers hired Irvine-based GCI Advisors at the end of May to explore the idea of building a complex of high-end offices in conjunction with a stadium. The project would occupy a 73-acre, city-owned site near Oceanside Boulevard and Interstate 5 that is now the Center City Golf Course.

The city has leased the property through 2011 to operators of the 18-hole golf course, one of four public courses in the city. Two of those courses, including Center City, are owned by the city of Oceanside.

The Oceanside study is expected to be finished by the end of August, and would give some indication as to whether there is a market in the area for as much as 2 million square feet of new office space, Fabiani said.

Fabiani has said that if the study shows there is not enough demand for office space, or that the cash flow generated by such a development would not support a $700 million stadium, the Chargers would be at a crossroads with Oceanside.

Oceanside Deputy Mayor Rocky Chavez said Wednesday that even if the Chargers don't move to the Oceanside golf course property, also known as "Goat Hill," the land would be perfect for Class A office space and an upscale hotel to support the Oceanside Boulevard job base and bring a unique value to the city.

With regard to a decision last week by Gaylord Entertainment to pull out of a $1 billion hotel and convention center project slated for the Chula Vista bayfront, Fabiani said that though "it's tough to make an assessment so soon," the uncertainty created by Gaylord's decision "makes things more difficult for us."

The site that was being negotiated by Nashville, Tenn.-based Gaylord is adjacent to the site being considered by the Chargers. Gaylord cited failure to reach agreement with local unions for its decision.

"It's pretty clear there's a gaping hole now in the bayfront plan for the city. It's also clear it will be hard to consider a stadium on the other property unless you know what's going to happen with the Gaylord site," Fabiani said. "With Gaylord, we knew what was going to be next door to us. You knew what was there, the traffic patterns, pretty much everything you needed to know to start an environmental report on the power plant site. Now you don't know any of that."

Fabiani said the Chargers are not considering the Gaylord site for a stadium at this time, and have no indication that there is interest on the part of the city of Chula Vista or the Port Commission for a stadium on the site.

"I think we all have to look at whether the public's interested in that, and if so, where we could succeed where Gaylord failed," he said.

"We would look at it," he said. "But it's tough when a company like Gaylord has spent so much time and money on this."

The Chargers plan to leave Qualcomm Stadium within the next decade for a new state-of-the-art facility with luxury suites and club seats that could raise millions of dollars annually for the team.

Their management has looked at sites in National City, which in May dropped its bid to attract the team, as well as the Chula Vista and Oceanside sites.

The city of San Diego built Qualcomm Stadium, originally known as San Diego Stadium, for the Chargers in 1967 in Mission Valley, near the intersection of Interstates 15 and 8.

The team can leave the stadium after the 2008 season by paying off the balance on $60 million in bonds that the city issued to expand the facility in 1997. The Chargers have been unable in the last four years to reach an agreement with the city of San Diego on building another stadium there.

Fabiani has said that the Chargers want to choose a site for a new stadium by the end of the year and the goal is have a proposal ready for voters in November 2008.

- Contact Marga Kellogg at 760-901-4067 or mkellogg@nctimes.com.