“ In 2004, San Diego used eminent domain to take Ahmad Mesdaq’s downtown cigar lounge to make way for a four-star Marriott, and the hotel developers yesterday got more time to build it. As yet, the prime Gaslamp District corner at Fifth Avenue and J Street is still a parking lot. The city’s downtown redevelopment agency – which took the lead on, and the heat for, the eminent domain decision – agreed to negotiate a deal allowing the developer to delay completion of the 365-room hotel until May 2013.
Extension granted for hotel developer
