Proposed Sunroad Harbor Island Hotel Moves Forward

Friday, 17 June 2011
Contact: Marguerite Elicone (619) 686-6222

A project to build a 175-room hotel on Harbor Island received concept approval from the Board of Port Commissioners at its June 14, 2011 meeting.

Sunroad Enterprises, a long-time tenant of the Port of San Diego, was granted an option to lease agreement and concept approval for the proposed hotel to be built on its Sunroad Resort Marina leasehold at 955 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego.

The Board of Port Commissioners voted to approve the project, as long as the developer was willing to include two conditions in the lease agreement. The Commissioners requested that language be inserted indemnifying the port against any legal action and also requested language stating that the hotel operator would comply with all employment and labor laws.

Port Commissioners said the Port of San Diego is not pro-or anti-union, but that the Board believes the project has a better chance of gaining approval by the California Coastal Commission if labor does not oppose it.

“This is a partnership,” Scott Peters, Chairman of the Board of Port Commissioners said at the meeting. “It’s not just the investors that make these projects move forward, it’s also labor. We need to think about what we can do to ensure job quality.”

Constructing the hotel would provide jobs and, when it is operating at capacity, would bring the city of San Diego approximately $1.1 million annually in room taxes and additional money from sales taxes.

As landlord, the Port of San Diego would receive about $825,000 in annual rent – money the port would use to enhance its 17 waterfront parks and other public services. In addition to the rent from the hotel, the port would also receive an additional $1,240,000 in marina rent upon the project’s stabilization. These figures are expected to increase by three percent each year.

The Commissioners requested the conditions on the lease agreement after hearing several members of the public speak about the importance of protecting the rights of hotel workers to unionize without fear of punishment.

Bridgette Browning, the President of Unite Here, which represents local hotel and hospitality employees, along with Lorena Gonzales, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, both approached the Board of Port Commissioners and asked that language be inserted to ensure protection of hotel workers. They were joined by several hotel employees in the audience, who wore red t-shirts to represent their union.

In addition to the hotel employees, workers in the construction industry also attended the meeting. Dressed in green t-shirts, many of them spoke in favor of the construction jobs that the project would create.

The project includes construction of a 175-room, limited service hotel on an unoccupied area near Sunroad’s 600-slip marina. The hotel would be four stories and include meeting room space, a fitness center, swimming pool, and surface parking on East Harbor Island. The proposed hotel would be similar in quality to a Courtyard by Marriott or a Hilton Garden Inn. An enhanced public promenade along the east basin side of Harbor Island would connect to a promenade that will be located near the former Reuben E. Lee Restaurant once it is redeveloped.

Sunroad Enterprises currently has a 50-year lease for its marina that will expire in 2037. A 36-month option has been negotiated with them for a new 55-year lease that incorporates the marina and the proposed hotel. The new lease would expire in 2069.