Last week, I wrote about The planned Harbor Village development. Critics are assailing it as an eyesore, but I couldn’t find any pictures when I posted the story.  After some digging around, I managed to get some current pictures of the planned hotel from the county, and some old site plans of the project as a whole.

There have been changes since the original site plans were created. The fake “lighthouse” shown on these plans has been removed at the request of the Coastal Commission. But they give some idea of what we can expect until we can get more current site plans.

Personally, I’ve been ambivalent about the project, but I was startled by how large and monolithic the hotel would be from Capistrano Road.

Click on each of the pictures on the right to see a full-sized version in a separate window.

ANG Newspapers, the company that publishes the San Mateo Times, Oakland Tribune and four other papers published faked “Best of” reader surveys that featured current and potential advertisers in place of reader-selected winners, according to Grade the News.

David Marin, who was fired from his job as director of advertising in March 2003, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that the Tribune’s parent company, ANG newspapers, committed a “massive hoax” on readers, advertisers and the general public by ignoring survey results and hand-picking the names of businesses to receive awards.

In the suit, Mr. Marin says that before he took over the department in June 2002, another manager “would take the true poll results into a room by herself and alter the results, emerging with a new set of ‘winners.’” A call to the home of the woman named in the suit was not returned.

ANG, owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group, publishes the San Mateo County Times, Oakland Tribune, Alameda Times-Star, Hayward Daily Review, Fremont Argus, and Tri-Valley Herald. The Pacifica Tribune is owned by MediaNews, but apparently is not part of ANG.

As Harbor Village begins development, its opponents are returning to the battle. According to the Review, the county has reportedly granted developer Keet Nerhan the building permits to begin work on the commercial and retail portions of the project. He still must secure the necessary sewer and building permits to construct the hotel.

The full Harbor Village development would include 84 hotel rooms, 11 suites, a 280-seat restaurant and 60-seat bar, 15 to 25 retail shops, and parking for 450 cars in what is now a vacant lot at the corner of Capistrano Road and Highway 1 in El Granada [map].

Meanwhile, Concerned Citizens of the Coastside, which has been fighting this battle for fifteen years, has issued a press release describing Harbor Village as an “unplanned eyesore on one of the most beautiful parts of the coast.” Among their objections to renewed development:

• The development would be out of scale with the surrounding area and would block views from Highway 1 and El Granada.


• Nerhan will not be able to complete Harbor Village within the ten years required by the development agreement with the county.


• Nerhan is unlikely to complete even the retail shops (for which he has received a building permit) before the deadline.


• Permission to develop Harbor Village, as an exception to the Local Coastal Plan and over the opposition of the Coastal Commission, was based on a dubious economic justification. The current plan will not even try to provide that promised benefit.

The CCC website has copies of a written summary of the issues, an FAQ, and a copy of the develoment agreement. Click “read more” to see CCC’s summary of the issues.

Chicago-based luxury hotel owner Strategic Hotel Capital says it is acquiring the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay for $124.4 million.

“This is a genuinely unique, high-end hotel with significant growth prospects located in a market with high barriers to entry.” Laurence Geller, Strategic Hotel Capital’s president and CEO, said in a press release. According to the press release, the hotel took 20 years to construct. Barriers to entry, indeed.

The resort is expected to earn about $8.1 million in 2004 and $10.4 million in 2005, before interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to Strategic Hotel Capital. Translation: it’s still not making money. The buyer blamed the post 9/11 travel slump and recession, but suggested that it should do better as the economy recovers.

Strategic Hotel Capital owns 14 properties and completed an initial public offering June 24, raising $246.4 million.  The company describes itself as “a real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns and asset manages high-end hotels and resorts” . Its hotels are operated by third-party management companies, according to Hoover’s.

The Department of Transportation has given Half Moon Bay Airport a grant of $186,000 to help pay for an Automated Weather Observing System to replace existing weather equipment at the airport.

On the other side of the hill, you can pretty much get whatever cell phone service offers you the best deal or the coolest phone.

Here in paradise, it’s little more complicated. Cell phone coverage is really bad in unpredictable ways.  Please share your experiences with cell phone service on the coast and make your recommendations.

Illustration: Sprint’s tower map for the midpeninsula shows just a handful of towers west of Skyline.

The Half Moon Bay Inn is closing after 33 years, according to the Oakland Tribune.  With it are going 12 residential hotel rooms and five apartments on the second floor. When it’s gone, you will no longer be able to buy a drink downtown at 6am.

“It’s the end of an era,” said regular Ron Mazzanti, who stopped in Tuesday morning. “It’s hard to find a good dive bar anymore. When you find out where everybody’s going to go, let me know.”
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Other “dive bar” possibilities—the American Legion of Honor and the Old Princeton Landing—are both in Princeton, a few miles away. Having to drive to your favorite bar defeats the purpose, some say.

“Princeton might as well be in San Francisco,” Mazzanti said.

The new owner plans to turn it into a “very elegant establishment”.