Council sweet on developer

I went to the Raleigh City Council meeting Tuesday expecting a shootout.

Instead, it was more like an execution.

Poor Russell Allen.

Raleigh's city manager was trying to be the bad sheriff, bringing down the law against renegade developer Greg Hatem.

Only thing is, Hatem doesn't wear a black hat.

And Allen's white Stetson is a dingy gray.

The issue at hand was an extension Hatem sought from the city on the hotel complex he's going to develop on city land near the soon-to-open convention center.

(By the way, if you haven't been downtown to see the shimmer wall, it's worth the gas.)

At a meeting in June, the council gave Hatem until Nov. 1 to finish plans for the hotel-condo project he's working on.

In exchange, though, Allen wanted Hatem to cough up 50 grand to help pay for road improvements at the property.

Hatem was slow to sign the agreement, so Allen wanted the council to withdraw the extension and open up the project to new bids. In other words: start from scratch.

That was Allen's recommendation.

But instead of lining up behind the city manager, the council lined up behind Hatem.

In fact, council members fairly gushed over Hatem's new drawings and his company's partnership with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a San Francisco outfit that designs boutique hotels.

City Council member Thomas Crowder: "This isn't going to be a prototype just plopped down in Raleigh is it?"

Hatem: "Why, no, it's going to be a unique hotel, designed just for Raleigh. Good question!"

Mayor Charles Meeker: "What about Phase II of your proposal, the condominiums?"

Hatem: "Why, Mayor, that's my next slide!"

The only softball I didn't hear was: How great is this project going to be, Greg?

It would be easy to credit the council's enthusiastic response to social networking. A majority of the council attended Hatem's recent wedding to my colleague Samantha Smith. No barn dance, to be sure.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I attended this swank affair myself. But I drank enough wine that I scarcely remember it, preserving or pickling my objectivity.

Besides there's more to this showdown than meets the eye.

Council members Crowder and Rodger Koopman not only voted to allow Hatem this deadline extension -- they went even further.

Crowder and Koopman suggested that if Hatem needs an extension beyond November to submit revised plans for the hotel, all he needs to do is come back and ask.

If Crowder and Koopman were thumbing their noses at the city manager, they had good reason.

For the city to demand that Hatem gratefully sign on to spending $50,000 on road improvements seems a bit absurd. Especially after the city spent $1 million to outfit restaurant space for its tenant, The Mint.

Also, there's no one, including Meeker, who has done more to revitalize our downtown than Hatem. He believed in a new vision of our center city when bums were the only nightlife on Fayetteville Street and a Wendy's was one of the best places to eat.

Plus, he throws one heck of a wedding party.

Just ask the City Council.