The project will be the second phase of the two-phase Harborside condominium project. Phase one of the project is well under construction, and should be ready for occupancy late this year, according to Gary Tusberg, KCCHA’s urban development director.

“More than 60 percent of phase one is sold,” said Tusberg, “and now that the weather is changing, we expect the remaining units will go quickly.”

The new hotel and condominium buildings will stand along Washington Avenue between the housing authority’s Harborside Condominium project and the Hampton Inn, and will replace the Sinclair Building, which currently occupies the site. All told the two-phase project will add four new buildings to the downtown Bremerton skyline.

Once the predevelopment phase has ended construction on the hotel and condominium buildings should take approximately 20 months. When, exactly, construction will begin, however, is still up in the air, and will depend on how smoothly the predevelopment phase goes.

“I would venture to say that [the predevelopment process] will begin immediately, if not sooner,” said Tusberg. “But I’m unable to tell you when [Lurie’s] going to put the shovel in the ground.”

The first step in construction will be the development of an underground garage, a project that will be shared by Lurie and the Port of Bremerton, which will be contributing resources to the garage project in order to secure parking spaces for the new 350-slip marina the Port is developing along the Bremerton waterfront.

“It’s another example of a public-private partnership,” said Tusberg, who drew parallels between this project and the 2004 construction of the Harborside convention center.

Tusberg does not anticipate that the new hotel will be in direct competition with the Hampton Inn, which opened in 2004, as the Hampton Inn caters primarily to business professionals and government visitors coming to the shipyard. The new hotel, Tusberg said, will be more of a “boutique” location, catering more to tourists and marina visitors.

“It’s intended to be a destination place,” said Tusberg. “People will leave their boats in the marina and stay at the hotel for the weekend.”

Kitsap County Commissioner Patty Lent, who chairs the board of KCCHA, which also serves as Bremerton’s Community Renewal Agency, was thrilled.

“I represent part of Bremerton, and as chair of Bremerton’s Community Renewal Agency, I’ve always believed that the redevelopment plan was a winner,” Lent said. “It just proves that public investment up front really does create the environment that attracts private investors.”

There’s no word to date as to whether a hotel chain will be brought in to manage or brand the hotel, but Tusberg noted that Lurie would be responsible for making that decision.

Lurie’s hotel building and ownership portfolio includes Santa Barbara’s El Encanto Hotel and Garden Villas, where John and Jacqueline Kennedy honeymooned in 1953. Lurie also has a local connection to Bremerton: he and his brother built the Bremerton Gardens apartment complex nearly 50 years ago.