Now, White Lodging Services Corp., a Cleveland company affiliated with the Marriott chain, has thrown its hat in the ring.
''White Lodging is interested in doing the headquarters hotel,'' David Cole, the Denver lawyer representing White Lodging, tells GlobeSt.com. ''We are willing to put up a significant amount of equity into the deal. We think we can get it financed, regardless of what people are saying.''
He tells GlobeSt.com he can build it and open it faster than Berger has proposed with Hyatt. But his group wants the same $55.3-million subsidy from the Denver Urban Renewal Authority that Berger will get. His development agreement with DURA expires at the end of March, unless it is renewed.
In order to move forward, however, the city might have to condemn the Berger land.
''There are alternate sites,'' Cole says. ''But there is no question that the Berger site is the best one.''
But Tracy Huggins, executive director of DURA, says that as far as she is concerned, going with another developer other than Berger would be the same as going back to the drawing board. Starting over would include issuing new requests for proposals. That would be far more costly and time consuming than continuing the deal with Berger, she explains.
"We believe (the Berger deal) is the strongest public-private deal we can recommend to the city,'' Huggins says.
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