A vague completion date and legal troubles haunt Monterey Conference Center.

Back on June 6, the members of the Monterey City Council joked about a question they get asked on a daily basis: “When is the conference center going to be finished?” 

The answer that night—for the completion of the $60 million, 40,000-square-foot center—was Oct. 16. 

It turns out they were overly optimistic. A Sept. 5 report by Monterey Interim Public Works Director Steve Wittry to the City Council asks them to extend the Ausonio construction management contract to Dec. 31, and puts the completion date in “late fall 2017.” Delays have been blamed on construction changes, asbestos findings and weather, among other challenges.

Those delays have proven costly to the city. The Ausonio contract now totals $4.7 million, up from the 2014 agreement of $1.4 million. In May, the council agreed to spend up to $150,000 to relocate conference groups that had been booked but couldn’t use the conference center through the summer. Then in August, the council approved another $125,000 to accommodate several groups booked through November. Community Services Director Kim Bui-Burton estimated the city would gain an estimated $1.6 million in direct and indirect revenue by avoiding lost bookings. 

Lawyers, meanwhile, are doing a brisk business. The city and the contractor building the project, Stronghold Engineering, are set to appear in Monterey County Superior Court on Sept. 22 for a hearing over a suit Stronghold filed against Monterey in December. 

Both sides are contending the other is responsible for the delays that started almost as soon as Stronghold broke ground in 2015. City Attorney Christine Davi says it’s possible once the construction is completed the two sides could reach a settlement and avoid a trial. For now, neither side is backing down. 

A separate lawsuit filed in January by the Portola Hotel against the city is also ongoing. 

The two sides are in a dispute over costs for hotel lobby improvements and usage of the De Anza Ballroom, which the city and hotel share, per earlier agreements. In court documents, Portola contends the city is threatening to block usage of any common areas and the ballroom once conference center construction is completed. (Portola officials did not respond to requests for comment.) 

In June, the city filed court papers contending the hotel stopped paying rent on the ballroom in October 2016. Davi says the Portola has not paid its monthly rent of $17,068 since then, totalling $204,816.