Officials Seek to Sell Struggling Hotel to Pay for More Police : Redevelopment: City plans to transfer ownership of facility from revitalization agency. It was originally intended to be centerpiece of economic revival.

After wresting ownership of the Compton Ramada Hotel from a delinquent developer, city officials are seeking to sell the struggling hotel and perhaps use some of the proceeds to hire more police.

Once considered the centerpiece of a hoped-for economic renaissance in Compton, the 288-room hotel and attached convention center have suffered from low occupancy rates and managerial upheavals since opening in 1989.

Earlier this month, the city Community Redevelopment Agency became full owner of the hotel, ending two years of foreclosure proceedings. The city intends to buy the hotel from the redevelopment agency--probably without an actual exchange of money--and sell the building.

City officials said they want to transfer ownership from the redevelopment agency so revenue from the sale can be funneled directly into city coffers, where there are fewer restrictions on how money is spent. “This is going to be a good thing. The city really (shouldn’t be) in the business of running a hotel,” Councilman Ronald J. Green said.

On Tuesday, the City Council set a public hearing for Jan. 11. A hearing is required when a building is transferred from one city agency to another.

The hotel has been a topic of debate and speculation since it opened as the Compton Lazben Hotel in 1989.

The city originally agreed to pay $15 million to developer Naftali Deutsch to build the hotel and a convention center. On official documents, the hotel owners are listed as D & B Development and Lazben Financial Co. Both companies are owned by Deutsch and four sons, city officials said. Company officials were not available for comment.

The city has always owned the convention center--which consists of a series of ballrooms and meeting rooms--a parking structure and the land for the hotel and center.

The hotel was originally scheduled to open in May, 1988. But after several construction delays, Deutsch told city officials he could not finish the project without additional money. The City Council agreed to a series of loans totaling more than $5 million. Deutsch never made any payments on those loans, city officials said. When the hotel officially opened in the fall of 1989, the top four floors were not yet completed. In 1990, the developer purchased a Ramada franchise and changed the hotel’s name.

Two years ago, the city started foreclosure proceedings and assumed day-to-day management of the nine-story hotel. A city employee was installed as assistant general manager and a management company was hired to oversee operations. The company was fired, and a second management company has been hired and fired.

Now, Mayor Omar Bradley says he wants to sell the hotel to the highest bidder and use the money to beef up the police force. Bradley has often complained that the police force of 130 officers is inadequate for a city of 90,000 people. During Bradley’s mayoral campaign last spring, he promised to increase the police force to 200 officers.

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He said the city hopes to get about $8 million for the hotel, which once was valued at $35 million to $40 million. If the convention center and parking lot are included, Bradley said, the city could hope for $20 million.

“Whatever the value is, that’s what we’ll sell it for,” Bradley said. “We’ve expended city dollars to keep it open and now we need that money for other things.”

Questions such as whether the hotel will be sold alone, or with the convention center and parking, will be decided after the public hearings, Bradley said.

The city’s financial terms with the redevelopment agency will also be negotiated later. Because the city has spent about $1.9 million to keep the hotel operating, and the agency still owes the city about $300,000, the building could simply change hands and the agency’s debt forgiven, Bradley said.