Harbor project behind schedule

Harbor project behind schedule



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/07/08

The San Sebastian Harbor project's building permit has lapsed and its construction site has looked empty for months, but its developer says things "are still moving forward."

Mark Knight, city planning and building director, said the developer, Wally Devlin, chief executive officer of The Devlin Group Inc., filed for an extension for the project's building permit in September. But the permit was never picked up or paid for. The fees would have been more than $225,000, Knight said.

Devlin says he was unaware the permit had lapsed and the project's redesign will take 10 more months to complete. He said the redesign will mean the project has to go through city approval again, calling for him to get a new building permit anyway.

San Sebastian's new design includes a Westin hotel with 275 hotel rooms, increased from 225, and 30 residential units, dropped from the previous planned 80 units. There would also be up-scale, five-star restaurants and retail shops, similar to those in the St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, Devlin said.

"We also still have to be approved by Starwood Hotels and Resorts before we change the design and the number of hotel rooms we want to have," Devlin said. "Things are still moving forward."

"We're probably four months behind the schedule we anticipated."

The project's marina, on the San Sebastian River, is 98 percent complete. But that, too, seems to be stalled.

Devlin said the contractor for the marina, The Auchter Co., is no longer in business and left in the middle of construction. Devlin is working to find a contractor to finish the marina.

In January, San Sebastian Harbor Resort LLC, a subsidiary of The Devlin Companies, entered an agreement with Westin Operator LLC, a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Construction for the $200 million project was expected to start in the fall, but Devlin expects to break ground later next year. He hopes that the project will be completed by 2010.

The Westin St. Augustine and The Residences at The Westin St. Augustine will be located on the nearly 13-acre site along the San Sebastian River in the heart of historic St. Augustine. The project will be just off King Street.

Knight said that even though there has been speculation that the project could fall through, he doesn't believe that.

"It's going to happen sooner or later," he said. "It's too good of a project not to happen."

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/070708/news_news01_016.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record