City Pays $5.3 Million to Settle Convention Center Lawsuit

For Mayor Kevin Faulconer, expanding the Convention Center was a major goal. In June 2017, Faulconer asked the city council to hold a special election to raise hotel taxes in order to pay for the $600 million dollar expansion. The revenues would have also been used for homeless services. The San Diego City Council, however, voted against holding a special election.

As reported by 7 San Diego, according to its lawsuit, Fifth Avenue Landing said that the mayor and Convention Center’s push to expand placed their plans to build an 830-room high-end hotel, as well as a second more affordable hotel, all on hold.

According to 7 San Diego, Fifth Avenue Landing has a long history at the site. The development partnership has held the lease on the state land behind the Convention Center since 1991 and since has spent millions on development plans and upgrades to the land. Plans to build a hotel on the site were in the works until the 2008 recession when those plans came to a halt.

Read the story.