Developer: Hyatt hype jeopardizing Carson City project

Public comments in Carson City about a private sector downtown project are putting it at risk, the developer said Friday.

Matt MacRitchie, principal of Carson City Center Development LLC, said two people in Carson City identifying the Hyatt Hotel chain as the firm bringing a lodging property to the city are jeopardizing negotiations. He was talking about Supervisor Jim Shirk and Lisa Helget, a candidate for a seat on the Board of Supervisors here. MacRitchie spoke from Chicago, saying his project is geared to become an economic engine in Nevada’s capital city.

“These two are putting this development at risk,” he charged.

The developer’s take was Shirk and Helget are “using this to advance their own agendas” but putting his work at risk. He asserted there’s no document from Hyatt putting the hotel chain on record as coming to Carson City.

On Wednesday, Helget told a candidates’ forum audience at a Chamber of Commerce Soup’s On luncheon: “I’ll break the news: the Hyatt’s coming here.”

The contemplated project is to build a hotel, technology-oriented conference center and retail outlets.

“The fact that Lisa has said this publicly has actually hurt the negotiations with Hyatt,” said MacRitchie, president and CEO of MacCompany’s a real estate and development firm.

Supervisor Shirk first spoke of Hyatt’s interest openly weeks ago, which in part is why MacRitchie named him. Shirk then said he learned of it from a website later stripped of the possibility because it appeared inadvertently. It had been divulged there by Northern Nevada Development Authority.

Shirk said he put it out when asked for comments on who might be coming here after declining to sign a confidentiality agreement aimed at keeping officials mum on such prospective project details.

MacRitchie indicated Friday his project plans are ambitious but negotiations require privacy at this stage. He said if the plans come together, he’s anxious to share the concept with the public fully. He said the goal is a development that would create jobs, as well as tax revenues for city coffers.