Gaylord Nixes Plans for $1B San Diego-Area Resort

By Adam Perrotta, News Writer

-- Tennessee-based Gaylord Entertainment has pulled out of a plan to develop a $1 billion resort in Chula Vista, Calif., but the firm claims the project's abandonment was not caused by the frozen debt markets that have wreaked havoc on developments across the nation.

According to Gaylord, the cancellation was not due to financing difficulties, but instead was the result of a “prolonged planning and approval process, a complicated regulatory and legal structure and excessive off-site infrastructure costs.”

Gaylord had been in negotiations for the project for the past three years. A 2,000-room hotel and 400,000 square-foot convention center were among the slated features of the resort, to be located along San Diego Bay.

The project, though, had run afoul of both labor unions and environmental groups, and negotiations had broken off several times, only to be rejoined later. This time though, the deal seems dead once and for all.

For its part, the San Diego Building and Trades Council was enthusiastic about the future development of the site--which it labeled one of the last pieces of coastal property open for development in Southern California--and had some seemingly choice words for Gaylord.

“While we are disappointed that Gaylord isn’t going to build…. we look forward to partnering with a developer who is serious about building this great piece of land responsibly,” Council member Tom Lemmon said in a release.

Nashville-headquartered Gaylord owns and operates Gaylord Hotels, as well as a number of entertainment venues, including the famed Grand Ole Opry.

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