Placer County has pulled out of a deal to buy the A&A Motel in South Lake Tahoe after the property owners declined the county’s request to extend the pre-purchase contingency period.

Placer sought to acquire the property for its tourist accommodation units and bank them for future redevelopment projects in the North Lake Tahoe town centers of Kings Beach and Tahoe City. After demolishing the motel, the county would have restored the land beneath, earning a bonus ratio of three-to-one TAUs from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

“The A&A deal was going to be an important part of our broader efforts to reinvigorate North Shore downtowns, and we’re disappointed that it’s not going to work out,” said Jennifer Merchant, Placer County deputy county executive officer for Lake Tahoe. “We’ll continue looking for more opportunities like this and are still fully committed to moving forward with incentivizing investment in the region.”

In February, the Placer board of supervisors voted to approve the purchase, pending a 180-day contingency period for the county to secure necessary approvals. With approvals by partner agencies still pending, the county requested to extend the investigation period until April 2016.

The property owners, WBW Property Holdings Corp., responded with an extension only through early January, which would not have provided the time necessary to navigate multiple outstanding due diligence items.

“Deals like this take time, and we can appreciate that the owners need to move more quickly,” Merchant said. “TRPA’s TUA bonus unit process is new, so we’ve learned a tremendous amount and expect that our experience will result in regional process streamlining that will lead to efficiencies we can benefit from next time.”