PORT ANGELES — Hotel/conference center developer Randal Jay Ehm is preparing what could be the final defense of his waterfront mega-project when he visits next week.
Ehm is scheduled to meet with city officials, the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Port Angeles Business Association in separate sessions Monday and Tuesday.
“I really think they’ll be impressed by the presentation at the next visit,” Ehm told Peninsula Daily News on Thursday.
“I’m bringing the team to show my commitment to the project.”
Ehm said representatives of Hospitality Real Estate Counselors — referred to him by the company slated to manage the conference center — will accompany him to Port Angeles.
They will explain how a “public development authority,” similar to one used to develop a conference center in Vancouver, Wash., could be used to develop the Port Angeles project, he said.
Ehm said that funding mechanism is the third of three he has considered, along with full private financing and private financing combined with some federal loans.
But city Economic Development Director Tim Smith has stated he will recommend to the lodging tax committee that the city pull its support of Ehm’s project based on lack of proof of project financing.