With the economy in shambles, local officials have shelved plans to seek new proposals from developers interested in building a long-delayed $104 million hotel next to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

The city-Allegheny Sports & Exhibition Authority has decided to wait until economic conditions improve before considering a rebid of the project, Executive Director Mary Conturo said.

"We think in this economy it is not likely that we would get a meaningful response," she said.

The SEA had been considering a new request for proposals after negotiations stalled with Forest City Enterprises, the Cleveland developer selected six years ago to build the so-called headquarters hotel with as many as 500 rooms.

But even with the lure of $34 million in public subsidies for the project, the SEA has been unable to complete a deal with Forest City to undertake the project, which those in the local tourism industry see as a key to increasing the number of conventions in Pittsburgh.

In order to meet the budget, the developer has sought to cut the number of rooms from 500 to 300. But the SEA and city and county leaders want a hotel with at least 400 to 500 rooms.

With a rebid on hold, Ms. Conturo said the SEA will continue to talk to Forest City as well as anybody else who expresses the least bit of interest in the endeavor.

But the prospects for reaching a deal with Forest City may be growing dimmer rather than stronger given the economic climate.

In its year-end earnings statement, Forest City reported a net loss of $112.2 million, or $1.09 a share, and said it won't start construction on any new projects in 2009 except for two -- an arena at the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn and a fee-based City Hall project in Las Vegas.

"That's obviously subject to change, but at this point we don't have firm commitments for anything else this year," Forest City spokesman Jeff Linton said.

He did not know the status of the hotel talks.

Ms. Conturo said the SEA at this point is willing to talk to any developer with an interest in the project. She said the agency has "gotten inquiries and expressions of interest" from others about the hotel. But she conceded the project may be a hard sell given the economy.

"As you know this is a very difficult market. So that is not helping in trying to get a difficult project started," she said.

Joseph McGrath, president and chief executive officer of Visit Pittsburgh, has said the city loses 80,000 room nights a year because of the lack of the convention center hotel.

As envisioned, the facility would be paired with the existing 616-room Westin Convention Center hotel next to the convention center to provide a bank of more than 1,000 rooms.

While the convention center project has languished, about half a dozen hotels Downtown, on the North Shore and the South Side are in various stages of construction.