The Port of San Diego and the city of Chula Vista are expected to sign a letter of intent this week with Texas-based real estate company RIDA Development Corporation to build a billion-dollar resort hotel and convention center in South San Diego County as part of the Chula Vista Bayfront redevelopment project.
The Port of San Diego is in formal, exclusive negotiations with RIDA's newly formed subsidiary RIDA Chula Vista, LLC to develop a future resort hotel and convention center as part of the Chula Vista Bayfront redevelopment project. In parallel, RIDA has been in its own negotiations with Gaylord Hotels - the large convention hotel brand of Marriott International - to manage and operate the future resort and convention center.
The proposed, non-binding Letter of Intent will be reviewed and voted on today by the Board of Port Commissioners and the Chula Vista City Council in a joint meeting. The LOI would be the first major, public milestone for the Chula Vista resort hotel and convention center since the approval of the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with RIDA, and will set the stage by defining the key economic terms which will be included in the final agreement to be presented to the Board and City Council for consideration at a later date, with constructions not anticipated to begin until 2019 at the earliest, if approved.
The proposed project as planned includes more than 1,000 hotel rooms, over 275,000 square feet of convention space, restaurants, bars, swimming pools and a lazy river. Under the proposal, RIDA would finance most of the hotel, with the city and Port contributing approximately 25% of the costs through hotel profits, expected to be approximately $360Million per year. Gaylord Hotels, who was negotiating with the Port of San Diego and city of Chula Vista in 2007 to build the resort before the project ultimately crumbled, is in line to manage the property.
