Reporter Rob Davis just phoned in from the city of Chula Vista’s press conference with some excerpts from Gaylord Entertainment’s letter to the city and port withdrawing from its convention center plans.
“It is with deep regret that we inform you that Gaylord Entertainment will no longer be pursuing the Chula Vista Bayfront project,” the letter reads.
After more than a year “of unproductive discussion with the San Diego Building & Construction Trades Council we have concluded that their unwavering, unreasonable demands render the project unfeasible for our company and our shareholders.”
Gaylord says in the letter, which is dated today, that accepting labor’s demands would have added between $50 million to $75 million to the cost of the project. The port and Chula Vista were offering $308 million in subsidies to help the company build convention and resort project and its surrounding infrastructure.
The company alleges that had it not accepted the labor deals and continued with the project, environmentalists would have disrupted the project with litigation.
The letter, from Bennett Westbrook, a Gaylord senior vice president, concludes:
Such an abrupt ending comes with a great deal of regret for our company, because we are not accustomed to withdrawing from projects and know that we all were on the verge of developing on of the hallmark west coast hospitality projects of our time. We would welcome the opportunity to work with the City and Port under different circumstances in the future.