NMC awaits OK on request for La Fiesta lease payment extension

Hotel Nikko Saipan has yet to respond to the Northern Marianas College’s request for an extension to its leasehold payment for La Fiesta shopping mall, NMC president Antonio Deleon Guerrero said.

In an interview, Deleon Guerrero said NMC asked Hotel Nikko for a 90-day extension to its first leasehold payment for La Fiesta, which is due on Oct. 31. The request was made in July to provide 90 days notice to Hotel Nikko. If NMC’s request is approved, the first leasehold payment will be postponed until the end of 2004.

“We’re just trying to buy time. But they haven’t replied yet,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero noted that the college may not be able to raise the $200,000 payment by Oct. 31. The Legislature recently junked NMC’s request for additional funding. The college had asked for $350,000 for La Fiesta—$200,000 for the first leasehold payment and $150,000 for the operations of the mall from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

House Bill 14-187, an appropriation bill that was revised to include a $350,000 allocation for NMC from the Tobacco Control Fund, was up for passage on Aug. 19 when two minority legislators questioned the legality of the measure.

Further, Saipan Rep. Arnold Palacios said there was substantial funding that has already been provided to NMC, while his colleague, former House Speaker Heinz Hofschneider, maintained that NMC “failed miserably” to justify its La Fiesta project during the previous Legislature.

Deleon Guerrero, however, said that NMC should have a clearer direction on the utilization of La Fiesta mall by the end of this week. The NMC Board of Regents is expected to make a decision on the subject during a special meeting tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11.

“For the past several months, we have been exploring the options on we have for the use of La Fiesta. But this time, the Legislature, as well as the board, wants just one proposal from the college management. I will be presenting that proposal to the board during the special meeting,” Deleon Guerrero said. “I hope that what ever their decision will be, it will be a win-win solution for all the stakeholders involved, including the faculty, personnel and students, as well as the government and the whole community.”

He has been meeting with various decision-making bodies in the college, such as the College Council, Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, and the Associated Students of NMC, to get their input for the proposal.