The expanded Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel, which opened in August more than doubling its former capacity, “is going to do wonders for our city,” says Sal Giametta, vice president of community relations for the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

It’s already producing benefits, says Reint Reinders, ConVis president/CEO. The additional 750 rooms has made the Hyatt the second largest hotel on the West Coast with 1,625 rooms and Downtown’s second headquarter-sized hotel, defined as one with at least 1,000 rooms. The Marriott Hotel & Marina towers has 1,368 rooms.

The enlarged Hyatt is a valuable resource when large conventions are booked into the Convention Center, Reinders says, and several hotels are needed to handle delegates. And because it is so large, with generous meeting spaces, it can accommodate smaller conferences in-house. “This hotel will serve a dual purpose for many years into the future,” Reinders says.

A hotel proposed at the Campbell Shipyard site, although smaller than the Hyatt, would be Downtown’s third headquarter-sized hotel, but it faces obstacles that will delay its construction. “Hilton wants to build it,” Reinders says. “We’re committed; we have the market, but there are some issues with the cleanup of the site and the overpass at Harbor Drive and the tracks.

“We’re not going to have room for more large hotels, but we will have the supporting cast of characters over the next 20 to 30 years. Many national hotels want to be here.”

As hotel room expansion continues Downtown, new construction and remodeling of older hotels is expected to add more than 5,000 rooms by 2005 and beyond. In the past year, in addition to the Hyatt, the W Hotel at Columbia Avenue and B Street opened, adding 261 rooms.

Perhaps even more significant was the Omni Hotel’s securing of financing during the past year, says Derek Danziger, Centre City Development Corp. communications manager. “It’s a good sign that the Omni got financing,” he says. “That was the only hotel of that size. We need hotels for the convention center, and what we are seeing is what we need.”

When the Omni opens in April next year, it will provide more than 500 rooms at Sixth and L, across from Petco Park. Another hotel across from the ballpark, the Clarion, closed this month to undergo rehabilitation. It is scheduled to reopen with a new name in 2004. “It won’t add to the number of rooms available,” Danziger says, “but it will provide an upscale facelift.”