The American Tin Cannery luxury hotel project takes a step back to move forward.

The developers behind a Pacific Grove luxury hotel project won a request for a one-year extension of a demolition permit at the California Coastal Commission on Thursday, April 16. While that sounds like another delay, it’s also a signal that the project may be preparing to come to life, years after it was approved by both the P.G. City Council and the Coastal Commission.

The 206-room hotel was initially approved by the Council in January 2022 then was appealed within weeks by a citizens group and by two members of the Coastal Commission. It took two years until the appeal was heard by the Commission, which approved the project with changes in April 2024. Several months later the city and developers, Comstock Homes, came to an agreement on vacating a portion of Sloat Avenue, situated in the middle of what would become the luxury resort.

The project seemed to come to a standstill, with no word of it moving forward until recently when Foursome Development, which owns the land, requested the demolition permit extension to April 2027. The developer Comstock has also put in an extension request to the City of Pacific Grove for the project approvals, according to City Manager Matt Mogensen.

Comstock Homes Vice President Debra Geiler says that although it looks as if no work is being done, behind the scenes they’ve been busy.

“We certainly have been working. We’ve been working on the marine mammal plan which has taken about a year to produce,” she says, referring to one of the conditions set by the Coastal Commission to protect harbor seals at the nearby pupping beach at Hopkins Marine Station. It’s one of several required conditions “before putting a shovel in the ground,” she says.

The goal is to be ready to begin demolition work this fall, during a narrow window, August to November, required to protect the seals, Geiler says. The company missed the window last year.

Thom and Kim Akeman, Pacific Grove residents and volunteer harbor seal monitors for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, protested at the Coastal Commission, arguing that any demolition or excavation will harm the seals and pointing out that the seals have become a tourist attraction.

Coastal Commission Regional Director Dan Carl said the staff believes that the issues raised by the Akemans and others have been “appropriately addressed by the plan.”