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City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said Friday that the city was "not willing to accept all the responsibility or risks they were trying to put on us." Therefore, he said, Marriott is out and the city is looking to Hilton and Hyatt instead.

"We have confirmed that the financial institutions are still with us as partners," he said. "We have confirmed that Mortenson (the developer and contractor) is still on board. We are actively pursuing other operators for this project."

The eight-story building at the east end of Ninth Street is supposed to anchor redevelopment of the old industrial park southeast of Interstate 80 and First Avenue. Having gotten past legal challenges and overcome a bidding process that saw estimates come in more than $10 million above expectations, the City Council was expected to give final approval to a multitude of contracts next week. Work on the foundation was slated to start April 25 with a formal groundbreaking next month.

But contract negotiations broke off Thursday, and Bill Boyd, a consultant with the city-formed Coralville Hospitality Corp., said Marriott hasn't called again. The question now is whether the city still can complete the project on time for the first of six or seven scheduled conferences, an Iowa League of Cities gathering in September 2006.

"At this point, we can't say. We've got to determine how quickly alternate partners can respond, and I expect to know that by early next week," Hayworth said.

Mayor Jim Fausett said Marriott sets the highest standards, so he is hopeful that another hotel chain will accept the current designs and contracts. Added Boyd: "It's a matter of days, certainly weeks, but not months" to sign up a new operator.

Construction will not begin until everyone is on board and all contracts are signed, Hayworth said. Phone calls to Marriott were not returned or officials were unaware of the latest developments and could not comment.

Hayworth also sits on the Coralville Hospitality Corp., or CHC, a non-profit group the city created to oversee design, development and project operations. He said there were two main differences related to how Marriott would be paid during construction and who would be responsible if construction fell behind schedule.

Mortenson -- which joined the project last month after the city sued its former construction manager -- was to set aside $2.4 million, then a consultant would receive Marriott's bills and draw on the fund. Marriott wanted the money up front, Hayworth said. Additional concern came in the project completion schedule. A consultant has been hired to monitor construction, and Mortenson offered to put up $250,000 as an assurance should Marriott incur any expense for a late opening. The city matched the offer, Hayworth said, but Marriott officials wanted a provision allowing them to pull out at any time.

Hayworth said differences with Marriott arose during final negotiations in the past two weeks. The breakdown began Tuesday during a meeting in Des Moines, when city officials made clear that differences had to be resolved this week. Fellow CHC member and city councilor Jean Schnake said she was "totally taken aback" when the group met Wednesday.

"It was mentioned in passing," she said of what Boyd told the CHC of problems with Marriott. "I said, 'Wait a minute, can you explain that to us please?' On Wednesday, I thought there was still hope."

Hayworth said the end came during a Thursday conference call, when he told Marriott "the terms were not acceptable." Asked if the door was left open for further talks, Hayworth answered: "No."

But as of Thursday night, Boyd remained hopeful. He said of Marriott "there's a couple of issues we're trying to finalize with them that may or may not get finalized. It's not unusual. It's typical of a complicated project." On Friday night, he was more resigned but not as definitive as Hayworth.

Mayor Fausett took a similar tone.

"I think the door is open," he said. "We definitely would continue to negotiate if there is any possibility at all. We've felt from day one that they would be an excellent partner -- but not to the detriment of our citizens.

"There's just no way that some of the things they inserted into the contract was something that we could live with."