Robert Leidig had grand plans for redeveloping Salinas’ 26-acre downtown core: a new government center with City Hall and library, a rail district with mixed-use buildings and tree-lined walkways and – at last – a Main Street hotel with a public plaza. But the warm reception for Salinas Renaissance Partners’ vision has devolved into a City Hall brawl.

Leidig accuses city officials of playing games and breaching their agreement, while the city says the developer stalled the process and ultimately failed to prove he had the money for the project.

In a pattern that has become all too familiar in Oldtown Salinas, the City Council on April 13 cut ties with Leidig. “They had the vision, but they didn’t have the means to move it forward,” says Councilman Steve Villegas. Now the dispute could end up in court.

Carmel’s Leidig entered the Salinas scene in early 2008, originally in partnership with Syracuse-based Widewaters Group. But Widewaters dropped out of the deal, leaving newly formed Salinas Renaissance Partners to deliver an ambitious project spanning 20 city-owned properties.

Leidig says the city screwed him on multiple levels. Up until July, he says, his team was designing a new parking garage with retail on the bottom, across from the post office on Alisal Street.

“THEY HAD THE VISION, BUT THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE MEANS TO MOVE IT FORWARD.”

“That was our number-one project,” he says. “Then we were told the county had development rights.”

In January, the City Council terminated SRP’s exclusive negotiating rights agreement, saying it wanted to focus the development on the 100 block of Main Street, where the city has long desired a hotel. Leidig says the market doesn’t exist for a hotel now, and it’s more realistic to develop affordable housing projects, like a 41-unit complex in Salinas’ Chinatown at the corner of Soledad and East Lake streets.

Don Reynolds, redevelopment project manager, says Leidig did pitch plans with Monterey developer Dan Silverie III, but stakeholders wanted retail, not parking, on the first floor. Reynolds says Silverie is still working on the project without Leidig.

Villegas says Leidig didn’t have enough money to back up his talk. Leidig gave the city a list of 40 to 50 investors, he says, but with no signed agreements. “All they showed us is $1 million,” Villegas says. “They didn’t have any more money after that.”

SRP couldn’t get loans and partners without detailing what the city would contribute to the project, Leidig says. He claims Mayor Dennis Donohue told him he had to have $50 million in the bank to move forward with the hotel. Donohue denies this.

Leidig’s attorney argues SRP should be reimbursed $2.2 million by the city for planning expenses, the negotiating rights agreement was done in bad faith and the city breached the contract. City Attorney Vanessa Vallarta disputes these claims.

“Show me the written contract,” Councilman Tony Barrera says, adding that it would be foolish for the city to pay back a developer for work done on a project. “He’s accusing us that we were playing under the table, and I don’t think we’ve been doing that.”

Despite the bickering, Leidig hasn’t given up on downtown yet: “We are looking for sites that are developable at this point in time, in which the city would support and not try to be an adversary,” he says.