In a letter to members of the agency’s board of directors and to the editor of the Union-Tribune, the San Diego Housing Commission earlier this year defended the newspaper’s scrutiny on the price he paid for a Mission Valley hotel, which is now under criminal investigation claiming the newspaper failed to properly analyze the transaction.

But the valuation the agency relied on to justify the price it paid for the property did not do what the agency said the newspaper should have done.

In fact, the letter from the agency basically contradicts the methodology and conclusions included in its own assessment, led by commercial real estate company CBRE, Andrew Keatts is breaking down into a new story.

Rick Gentry, Chairman of the Housing Commission, argued in his letter to board members and the Union-Tribune that “the highest and best use” – real estate jargon for the way to maximize the value of a property within its legal and practical constraints – was like an apartment complex, making it worth more than a hotel.

But the evaluation explicitly concludes that the highest and best use of the property is that of a hotel.

And Gentry argued the newspaper should have compared the deal to other recent apartment sales, which would justify the purchase price. But that’s not what the evaluation did. The valuation was based on recent hotel transactions, just like the paper.

What we know about 101 Ash St.

There have been some big developments in the 101 Ash St. saga this week.

We have learned that ‘volunteer’ real estate expert Jason Hughes, who helped the city secure two construction contracts, including the controversial 101 Ash St. property, actually pulled out of the contracts with $ 9.4 million. dollars.

At one point, Hughes had quit volunteering and instead secured one of the city’s most lucrative commercial real estate contracts: representing the city itself.

As the city now tries to pull out of real estate deals and recoup more than $ 44 million in rents and force Hughes to pay damages, the question on the table is whether former mayor Kevin Faulconer was aware of the payments.

Naturally, our editors jumped on the podcast to break everything down. They go through the transaction history and explain why it is all important.

In other news

• We are hosting a virtual town hall next week to discuss the Tijuana River pollution crisis with Rep. Scott Peters, COLEF Professor Gabriela Munoz and WILDCOAST Communications and Policy Director Fay Crevoshay. Get more details and register for free here.
• After another study showed the SDPD disproportionately attracts black drivers – even after weighing other factors – city council members and criminal justice reform advocates on Tuesday called on the city to reform police practices to remedy inequalities. Namely, lawyers are pushing the city to ban the so-called pretext stops, when officers arrest residents for minor offenses in order to investigate other potential crimes. (Union-Tribune)
• The city of San Diego is pay a whistleblower $ 200,000 after firing her in 2019 when she alleged the city was illegally embezzling nearly $ 1 million in water and wastewater funds through accounting tricks. (Union-Tribune)
• County hotels and restaurants have had to reduce capacity as they struggle to find workers. (KPBS)
• In a press release, SDPD said it saw an increase in violent crime and believed much of it was gang related.
• UCSD Health is now offer a digital vaccination record. (10News)
• COVID-19 death rate data shows San Diego fared much better than neighboring counties. NBC 7 spoke with officials from Riverside and Imperial who cited more farm jobs, lack of access to health care and high poverty rates as contributing factors.
• The CIF has stripped from Coronado High School of his league title and placed the team on probation for the 2023-2024 school year after supporters threw tortillas at the visiting team at Orange Glen High School. The principal of the school said that they are consider a possible recourse and retained the services of an outside investigator to investigate the incident. (10News)

The Morning Report was written by Andrew Keatts and Megan Wood, and edited by Sara Libby.