It is looking like the City of San Francisco is putting out the call to former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. to salvage the construction project at the Piers 30–32 as they create a new Cruise Terminal for San Francisco. The previous company working on the project LendLease out of Australia pulled out citing construction cost that were too high.
What the commission has to do is figure out how we can salvage this project,” he said. “We know the construction costs going up has made this much more difficult.” While Lend Lease has talked to a number of developers interested in taking over the project, DeBartolo Holdings was the most interested, according to Rhett. He stressed that the port has not had the legal authority to contact the DeBartolo directly until Wednesday when Lend Lease gave up their exclusive right to the project.
Rhett said the port is anxious to talk to DeBartolo and any other interested developer.
“It seems that Lend Lease has had a greater focus on DeBartolo over other developers, but we don’t know all the reasons,” said Rhett.
If Lend Lease walks away, it could result in a windfall for the cash-strapped Port of San Francisco. Under the complex deal, first struck in 1999 and renegotiated in 2003, the developer receive 12.5 percent profits after cost from the first phase of the development, the 120- unit Watermark Tower, which was completed in March.
The rest of the profits from the sales — which officials project to be between $30 and $40 million — are being collected in an account that SFCT use to construct the James R. Herman International Cruise Terminal, which could begin construction as early as next June. If the SFCT walks away from the project, that money, which because of the still-hot luxury condo market in the South Beach neighborhood, would revert back to the port. via San Francisco Business Times:.
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