A nationwide company that manages conference hotels at Lake Tahoe and Santa Cruz has emerged as the top contender to operate a hotel and conference center to be constructed at UC Davis.

University officials announced this week that they are entering into exclusive negotiations with a development team that includes Texas-based Benchmark Hospitality.

The team also includes development companies Acquest Realty Advisors of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Sacramento’s All Star Investments; Turner Construction Co.; and the investment-banking firm of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffrey.

The development team was among three finalists asked to submit detailed proposals for the 150-room conference hotel as well as an adjacent office building for university use.

The $40 million facility with a four-star quality hotel would be built near Interstate 80 facing the future UC Davis Center for the Arts.

Both the hotel-conference center and office building would be built and operated without university dollars. UC Davis would maintain ownership of the 5-acre site and receive annual lease payments from the developer.

John Yates, special projects director at UC Davis, said that during the 90-day negotiation period, the campus would explore with the developer and Yolo County the possibility of bond financing.

Members of a campus selection committee said they were particularly impressed by Benchmark Hospitality, which manages 20 conference centers across the country and in Singapore.

Among its conference hotels are the Resort at Squaw Creek and Chaminade at Santa Cruz. The company also plans to break ground this summer on a 350-room conference resort in Napa.

"Benchmark is a superior operator. They have a very strong Northern California operation," said Karen Hull, director of Campus Events and Visitor Services.

The conference center will have 15,000 square feet of meeting space. "The most attractive part of this project is the meeting space for academic concerences and two quality restaurants at the entrance to campus," Yates said.

With meeting space for conferences up to 400 people but guest rooms for 150, the center should create spillover business for other hotels in the region, university officials believe.

Yates said the hotel would also bring added hotel tax to Yolo County.

A marketing and financial feasibility study conducted last summer by PKF Consulting, an international firm specializing in the hospitality industry, found enough demand to support such a center.

If the negotiations with the development team lead to an agreement, construction on the hotel-conference center would begin next May, with the facility scheduled to open in September 2002.

Construction of the university office building would occur from next March through May 2002.