$450 million Ritz Carleton construction to move forward in San Diego after lawsuit dropped

Construction will move forward for a new $450 million Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown San Diego, after a legal challenge about the project was dropped in late September.

The developer, San Diego-based Cisterra Development, says it now plans to start construction by the middle of next year once financing is lined up, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The building (which is expected to take three years to build) will also  include new office space and for-sale and rental housing.

Hotel union member Sergio Gonzales and San Diegans For Responsible Planning, a coalition of community and union members, had filed a lawsuit challenging the project’s original 2016 approval on environmental grounds, putting the entire development on hold. A lower court rejected the legal challenge last year, but the ruling was appealed.