Others Interested In Building Vacaville Hotel

Others Interested In Building Vacaville Hotel
By Ian Thompson | DAILY REPUBLIC | November 14, 2007 12:12

VACAVILLE - City leaders are already negotiating with an unnamed developer on getting a hotel and conference center the city wants built behind the new Nut Tree.

'We are in discussions now with a developer we had been in discussions with a year ago,' Assistant City Manager Laura Kuhn said.

If the city is unable to reach a deal with this developer, whom Kuhn declined to name, Vacaville will then go into the market to find another interested party, she said.

The city wants to build a four-story hotel with about 200 rooms and a 15,000-square-foot conference center on an 8-acre parcel near the Nut Tree Family Park.

'I am glad to see the conference hotel back on track,' Councilman Chuck Dimmick said. 'It will be a wonderful facility.'

Kuhn talked about the city's continuing efforts to get a hotel/conference center built Tuesday night after the City Council revised an agreement with Nut Tree developer Roger Snell to give him more time to expand the Nut Tree.

Vacaville had been in talks with the San Francisco-based Snell for some time about building a four-story hotel and conference center, which the city hopes will attract business people to the city.

In September, Snell stated he could no longer build the hotel the city wanted because of skyrocketing construction costs.

Councilmembers on Tuesday unanimously approved the change in the agreement and lauded Snell for what he has accomplished thus far in resurrecting the landmark.

'Roger Snell has done a wonderful job,' Councilman Steve Wilkins said. 'It has not been the easiest road for him.'

The revised agreement cuts Snell loose from the requirement to build the hotel and gives him two more years to build the second and third phases of the Nut Tree project.

These phases call for building several retail, restaurant and office buildings as well as apartments.

Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.