Local Digest

Sports authority suit

The Washington Convention and Sports Authority filed a lawsuit Thursday against several key players involved in plans to bring a multimillion-dollar hotel to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The authority is suing JBG Properties Inc.; its managing partner Benjamin R. Jacobs and Chief Development Officer Kenneth F. Finkelstein; Wardman Investor; and CIM/Wardman.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a suit filed last week by Marriott against JBG over the Wardman Park, another Marriott hotel. Marriott has been designated to run the hotel at the convention center.

Wardman Investor, a company controlled by JBG, had filed a suit against the city alleging favoritism toward Marriott. That suit seeks to halt construction and to require that the bidding process be reopened.

In its suit, Marriott alleges that the JBG lawsuit is part of an "extortionate plan" to stop construction of the convention center hotel and force Marriott to renegotiate the Wardman Park management agreement.

The authority is alleging that the defendants "unlawfully attempted to extort concessions from Marriott Hotel Services Inc. in connection with the Wardman Park Hotel," according to a news release.

"We intend to be aggressive in protecting the authority's interest to make this shovel-ready headquarters hotel project a reality," Gregory A. O'Dell, president and chief executive of the authority, said in a statement.

-- Ovetta Wiggins