The City Council voted Tuesday night to sell a half-acre lot on Ocean Way and use the proceeds to pay for affordable housing elsewhere in the city.
Edward Thomas Hospitality Companies agreed to pay $13.15 million for the lot, which sits immediately next to the company's luxury hotel Casa del Mar.
Staff has been working to trade the lot at 1920 Ocean Way for another parcel or sell it outright since 2007, said Andy Agle, director of the Department of Housing and Economic Development, and that money from the sale is needed to support affordable housing in the wake of the loss of funding from the former redevelopment agency.
Only Councilmember Bobby Shriver voted against the sale. Shriver told his colleagues he believed that City Hall should have taken the time to make the public aware of the impending sale, and that it might be possible to get more money for the property than they were asking.
ETC agreed to a deal with a five-day escrow period, meaning the council will have cash-in-hand by next week and the company would have the property.
"The fact that someone wants to close in five days means someone is eager to be done with it," Shriver said.
