enlarge Doug Jones/Staff Photographer

The Carnival Victory cruise ship towers above the Maine State Pier in Portland on Monday during a port call graced by sparkling but cool September weather. Bright and warmer conditions are expected today and should stick around to greet Explorer of the Seas passengers arriving on Thursday.

Neither Olympia Cos. nor Ocean Properties was able to get the five votes needed to enter negotiations with the city for the right to develop the pier.

“It’s obvious we don’t have the votes for anything,” Councilor Cheryl Leeman said after councilors were unable to resolve several proposals.

Motions in support of Ocean Properties and the Olympia Cos. both failed 4-4. That means the issue comes back to the council in two weeks.

Bob Baldacci of Ocean Properties, who called the council’s action “absurd,” said his team is considering all options, including pulling out of the deal and investing the $100 million pegged for this project elsewhere.

Kevin Mahaney of the Olympia Cos. praised the council for having the “courage” to continue working toward creating the best project possible.

Councilor Ed Suslovic joined forces with councilors Leeman, Kevin Donoghue and David Marshall in opposing Ocean Properties, the bidder recommended by the council’s three- member Community Development Committee.

Suslovic, who was the swing vote, used his position to lobby for adding a $6 million cruise ship mega-berth to the project. The mega-berth would be built near the Ocean Gateway terminal now under construction. Ocean Gateway does not support large cruise ships, and the planned mega-berth was never funded.

With a mega-berth, Suslovic said, the Maine State Pier would not have to accommodate cruise ships, thus saving money on pier improvements. “I believe both teams can do better,” he said.

Councilor Donna Carr, who supported Ocean Properties, dismissed Suslovic’s proposal as “grandstanding.”

Council Jill Duson was furious with Suslovic. “This is unseemly,” she said. “This is a completely new project. It is completely out of order.”

Councilor Jim Cloutier, who supports Ocean Properties, said the stakes are high because the deteriorating pier will require $15 million to $20 million in repairs. He said the city needs a developer who can make the project work because failure would be too costly for the city.

“We want to have a much higher probability of outcome here, given the public values at stake here,” he said.

Cloutier said Ocean Properties, which owns and manages 130 hotels around the country, employs 20,000 people. “We are talking about a truly huge company,” he said.

Ocean Property’s plan, he said, gives the city $700,000 more annually than the Olympia plan. Leeman said she supported Olympia Cos. because the design was better-suited to the site and provided better public access than the “cookie cutter” design proposed by Ocean Properties.

“This isn’t about bigger being better, “ she said. “It is about what is the best project, from the standpoint of design and the amenities it offers Portland, financial and otherwise.”

Both developers submitted proposals in February for a long- term lease on the seven-acre pier property to build a hotel, office building, restaurants and parks.

The eventual bid winner would negotiate with City Manager Joe Gray, the city’s attorney and possibly a specialist in waterfront development. The two sides would negotiate lease terms, the development plan, the time line and zoning issues.

The developer would have to return to the council for approval, and that wouldn’t happen until after the Nov. 6 election. There are three contested council seats and eight candidates.

District 3 Councilor Donna Carr has decided not to seek re- election because of health issues. Two at-large council seats are also opening. Incumbents Cloutier and Duson face two challengers: former Planning Board member John Anton and Mark Reilly.

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at: tbell@pressherald.com