The Regents sharply questioned UCLA about the hotel project initially, but they inevitably collapse when a campus wants something. This project started out as a grand hotel which involved demolishing the Faculty Center. When there was an outcry, there was a modest scaling back and a move in location to the current parking structure 6. The plan is still way too grand and when it is built (with tax-favored bond finance available to public entities), it is unlikely to meet business plan expectations. Its costs will be hidden - so it will never officially show a loss - but somehow the campus will pay. Had the powers-that-be resisted pressure from the build-and-bond "hospitality" empire that has grown up on campus, a reasonably-sized conference center could have been designed and costly litigation and embarrassment at the Regents could have been avoided.
You can read the press release announcing the lawsuit at the link below:
The lawsuit itself is at:
UPDATE: The LA Times has a story on this lawsuit at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ucla-hotel-20130404,0,7267572.story
UPDATE: The Daily Bruin story is at http://dailybruin.com/2013/04/04/lawsuit-challenges-luskin-center-projects-tax-exemptions/
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