TEMECULA - After a plan for developing an elaborate education center fell through, city officials now are ready to talk directly with major universities with the goal of bringing a bonafide college to Temecula, two city councilmen revealed Thursday.

The city has taken some hits lately from residents upset over the collapse of the deal that would have led to the development of an education center on a 32-acre lot at Diaz and Dendy roads.

But at a casual town hall meeting at the Temecula Public Library, when a resident asked "Has there ever been talk about bringing a junior college to the city," the council members said there had been and "still are" such discussions.

Moreover, Mayor Chuck Washington and Councilman Mike Naggar indicated the city is interested in attracting a four-year college.

"Not only are we looking to develop that property, we want a real university in Temecula," said City Councilman Mike Naggar. "We are starting to contact universities directly."

For nearly four years, the city had been working with a private developer to build the Temecula Education Center, which would have been a campus used by multiple schools that would have provided local options for night classes and college courses.

In March, the project died when the developer was unable to secure leases and financing and meet the city's requirements for the land transfer. The city still owns the land.

Temecula Mayor Chuck Washington said that among many reasons why the education center was a tough sell to the four schools initially planned to take part in the complex - Mt. San Jacinto College, Concordia University, UC Riverside and Cal State San Marcos - was that the schools didn't want to share the property or they couldn't enter into substantial leases for a piecemealed campus.

However, the property could be much more attractive to schools if they could own the land and have it to themselves, he said.

In addition, Washington said the benefit of having a single school calling Temecula home was that it could bring a greater sense of community identity.

"A 'college presence' wouldn't be achieved with what was planned," said Washington of the previous proposal. "We want more than that. We want what a university can bring to this community."

The city is examining five prospective proposals submitted June 22 for the city-owned lot. It was expected that a recommendation was to be made to the City Council on this coming Tuesday on what should be built on the land once intended for the education center.

Temecula Redevelopment Director John Meyers said that timetable has been scrapped and a new deadline has not yet been set for council review of the proposals.

Since the education center deal fell through, the council members have maintained that they have a commitment to bring a higher education facility to Temecula, but if they continued to pursue the old proposal they would be misspending taxpayers' money as the value of the land had increased from the original value of $3 million to $14 million.

Without receiving equal compensation -- the city was supposed to get $3 million in affordable housing from the deal - the land transfer could be misconstrued as a gift of public funds and would be illegal, the city attorney previously stated.

- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.