Hospitality Masters, led by local hoteliers Brad Smithart and Seth Davis, won a five-year lease to refurbish the former Astoria Red Lion Inn today.

They will open April 1 with 50 rooms as the Astoria Riverwalk Inn, a boutique hotel harkening back to the Americana feel of the 1960s, when the building first opened as the Thunderbird Inn.

The Port faces the need for immediate revenues with little investment, possibly the biggest draw of keeping the landmark hotel. After testimony by local community members, the commissioners decided to make the decision immediately instead of waiting until March 20 as previously announced.

These guys are trying to get the thing open, said Executive Director Jack Crider about the April 1 opening of the Riverwalk Inn, adding that the longer the Port looks at possibilities, the more difficult it is for Smithart and Davis to get their operation started.

Since two proposals for projects on the former Red Lion Inn property arrived at the Port of Astoria Jan. 20, staff and commissioners have been debating the merits of refurbishing the old hotel or tearing it down and starting anew.

Another proposal from Williams/ Dame & Associates sought to build a new 84-room hotel surrounded by a boardwalk, which the Port would have had to negotiate with the city of Astoria for money from their joint urban renewal fund to pay for.

The Riverwalk Inn would provide up to 14 family-size suites two rooms adjoined by a door and able to sleep large families. After the first tourist season slows down in October, Hospitality Masters will start renovating and opening rooms in Wing B.

Smithart and Davis said they eventually want rooms in wings A and B, while housing their offices in the westernmost Wing C, along with fitness facilities and other amenities.

Hospitality Masters will pay the Port up to $10,000 a month and 10 percent of its gross revenues, totaling an estimated $220,000 a year into the Ports coffers. The Port will save approximately $67,500 a year on utility bills, Division of State Land payments and insurance coverage, all of which the company will cover.

We started doing our research the day the RFP came out, said Smithart about submitting a proposal to start his first hotel with Davis. We dont think the other team was that prepared.

If we fail in six months, the Port will still have the asset. Were putting money into the property. The Port will have a better product in six months.

The most significant concern from the Port commissioners was the structural stability of the building, which has some undulating rooms and slightly sagging balconies from the pilings underneath settling.

Smithart and Davis said they will reinvest their profits into the hotel and have Peterson Structural Engineers of Portland ready to perform a structural assessment of wings A, B and C of the building.

The Port doesnt have the money to be throwing into this new thing, said Dave Mackey about the proposal by Williams/Dame for a new hotel.

Amanda Cordero, who owns Northwest Wild Products in the Chinook Building just east of the existing hotel building, said the waterfront around the west end marina is already getting good business and would be helped by the Astoria Riverwalk Inn.

A traffic jam forms every peak fishing season from the East End Mooring Basin out to U.S. Highway 30, when fishermen line up on 36th and 37th street to launch and retrieve their boats from the only public boat ramp in Astoria. Janice Burk of the marina and other Port staff have been trying to find a solution that can streamline traffic using both 36th and 37th streets and bring in additional revenue.

One option to ease congestion would have boaters come in through a parking lot west of 36th Street, travel north of Safe Harbor Animal Hospital, launch their boats, park and leave on 37th Street when theyre done. The two streets would become a one-way couplet. Another would close 36th Street to trailers, using 37th as the entrance and exit for boaters.

Staff also recommended the Port charge a $5 a day or $60 a year fee for the parking area on the western side of 36th Street, to help fund improvements to the parking areas and provide a steady revenue stream to the Port. Burk said Astorias one of the only boat launches on the lower Columbia River that doesnt charge for parking. Initiating the plan and making improvements to the parking areas, she said, would cost about $6,500, but the fees could net the port upwards $40,000 a year, based on an estimate of 9,460 boaters launching in a year.

It looks like were tailoring this project to transient boaters and not our local boaters, said Floyd Holcom. This is the only boat ramp in Astoria.

In unrelated action Tuesday, the Port also:

Heard a presentation by Alan Brunstad of Westerlund Log Handlers, who explained that the recent lull in the timber market was caused by a real estate bubble in China resulting from, in some cases, entire cities being built without any people living in them.

Discussed rates charged for indoor storage and boat work rates at Tongue Point. Boatyard Manager Steve Barkenmeyer said the rates were established after exhaustive research, and that the Port offers a good deal compared to other facilities offering indoor, self-service work spaces.