Mar. 21--Developers of a proposed convention-center hotel in downtown Denver have asked city leaders for a fourth extension to reach a development agreement. 

Tracy Huggins, executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, told Denver City Council members Wednesday that the agency would not have an agreement with developer Bruce Berger Realty by March 31, the current deadline. 

Huggins said the developer and the authority need an additional 45 days because Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, which planned to operate the hotel, is now considering an option to become the owner if Berger can't develop it. 

"If Berger is unwilling or unable to proceed, Hyatt would step up as the owner, developer and operator of the hotel," Huggins said. "Having Hyatt with its corporate strength makes this the strongest public-private deal we can present to the city." 

DURA and the developer have failed for more than a year to set the terms that would guide construction of the 1,100-room hotel. 

The urban renewal authority is involved because city leaders agreed in 1999 to contribute $55 million to help pay for the $285 million hotel. The authority would oversee the project for the city. 

Last year, the developers blamed a union that represents hotel workers for delays in reaching an agreement. Now, the developers blame last year's terrorist attacks for drying up the financing available for large hotel projects. 

Berger did not return several calls seeking comment during the past week. 

The ongoing failure of Berger and DURA to reach an agreement has prompted other developers to express interest in working with the city on a separate hotel plan. 

White Lodging Services, a firm that develops Marriott-branded hotels, has offered to buy Berger's property at 14th and California streets, said Denver lobbyist David Cole. The company is confident that it would get financing to open the hotel sooner than the Berger proposal, he said. 

White Lodging, based in Merrillville, Ind., is building five hotels in metro Denver, including a 279-room Marriott in Douglas County near Interstate 25 and Lincoln Avenue and a 232-suite Renaissance hotel in Broomfield. 

The Hyatt hotel chain is controlled by one of America's wealthiest families, the Pritzkers of Chicago. Hyatt executives want 15 days to review the financing and then another 30 days to hammer out an agreement with DURA. 

The ongoing failure to reach an agreement has caused the city's financial feasibility studies to fall out of date, said Denver City Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt. Those projections were completed in 1997. Huggins said the studies have not been updated. 

"I hoped that you would have gathered the information so that we could make a decision in informed desperation rather than uninformed desperation," Barnes-Gelt told Huggins. 

The continuing delays have prompted city officials to begin studying another option: dumping the developers and proceeding with a plan that is fully funded by the city. 

That option raised several questions from City Council members: Where would that hotel be constructed? Could it be constructed soon enough? How would the city pay for it? 

City revenue manager Cheryl Cohen-Vader said she is still trying to answer those questions before presenting the outline for such a plan. She said she hoped to complete it before the March 31 deadline. 

City officials were obviously frustrated Wednesday by the request for another extension because the developers continue to refuse to set an exact deadline for opening the hotel. Construction of the hotel would take about 24 months. "If we don't start this by the end of the year, we're all toast," said Councilwoman Happy Haynes. 

"Even with Hyatt at the table, the date is contingent on the market returning," said Cohen-Vader. "That doesn't get us closer to the goal." 

That goal is to have a hotel that could serve the expanded convention center, which is expected to open Dec. 6, 2004, the mayor's office said Wednesday. 

If the Berger-Hyatt team doesn't reach an agreement with DURA by the end of the 45-day extension, Huggins said, the parties would not ask again for more time. 

"(Hyatt president) Scott Miller, when he met with the mayor, said, `Give us until the end of April; if it's not done, then kick us out,'" Huggins said. 

Denver Post staff writer Cindy Brovsky contributed to this report. 

-----To see more of The Denver Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.denverpost.com 

(c) 2002, The Denver Post. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.