Builder Promises El Cortez Courtrooms by Fall

Financing woes are over, construction is at full speed and nine new courtrooms at the El Cortez Hotel Convention Center, the planned cure for the county’s crowded downtown courthouse, should be ready by September, a spokesman for the developer of the project said Wednesday.

But the county Board of Supervisors hedged its bets after hearing Wednesday from spokesman Roger Moliere, executive vice president of Minami California. The board ordered an April 9 meeting to make sure Minami has signed new lease amendments and to consider details of a performance bond it now wants from the company, a subsidiary of a Japanese conglomerate.

The bond would guarantee that Minami would finish the job, which has been delayed considerably, and would promise the county $5 million in cash if it is not completed, according to testimony Wednesday before the board.

“We need the court space badly,” Supervisor Susan Golding said. “We already have put too much time, money and effort into this project. At some point, we are going to have to pull the plug.”

The El Cortez site, at Beech Street and 8th Avenue, an appendage of the landmark hotel, was tabbed in late 1989 to alleviate a crush that has forced San Diego Superior Court judges into temporary quarters in a hotel. Originally, the nine courts were scheduled to open April 17.

Work on the complex began, then abruptly stalled two months ago. Minami, which paid $27 million cash for the property, said it ran out of cash to finish the job.

Minami California is a San Diego-based subsidiary of Minami Investment, which is part of the Minami Group of companies. The Japanese conglomerate was stung at home earlier this year by higher interest rates, a collapse in stock prices and jitters in the real-estate market, all of which combined to squeeze cash flow, Moliere has said.

Construction at the El Cortez complex resumed three weeks ago, however, after Minami got a $4.5-million loan from a Japanese bank, Moliere said Wednesday.

Although admitting impatience, board members said Wednesday that they sincerely want Minami to finish what it started, adding that downtown alternatives are either expensive or come with different troubles. After Minami reported its cash was tight, the county began hunting in early February for even more interim space.

The former Great American Bank building at 6th Avenue and B Street, which the county reportedly has been considering, may have “asbestos problems,” Supervisor George Bailey said. The vacant building that used to house the Walker-Scott department store at 5th Avenue and Broadway, which also was considered in 1989, is too costly, Bailey said.