Waterfront Hilton Accepts a 99-Year Lease with City Redevelopment Agency

HUNTINGTON BEACH — In a move that will bring the troubled Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach closer to emerging from bankruptcy protection by March, 1994, the hotel’s owners filed documents Tuesday accepting an already effective 99-year lease with the city redevelopment agency.

“We could not proceed with the reorganization without accepting it, so under all circumstances we were going to accept that lease,” said Steve Bone, president of the 12-story hotel and partner in the project with Newport Beach developer Robert Mayer. Bone said the terms of the lease, originally signed in 1988 for 99 years, requires developers to pay the city $45,000 every three months for the two acres of land under the Hilton.

The 300-room Waterfront Hilton opened in 1990 as a redevelopment centerpiece just as the recession started. It filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in April after it was unable to refinance a construction loan. The hotel has remained open and continued to operate under bankruptcy protection.