One Fan Pier option: not selling the site

The owners of Fan Pier, following two recent unconsummated deals, are considering a range of options, including not selling the land at all, an executive familiar with the marketing of the site said yesterday.

Hyatt Development Corp., which owns the 21 prominent South Boston acres and is controlled by the Pritzker family of Chicago, is still negotiating to sell the entire waterfront property to a single party, said the executive, who asked not to be identified.

Shopping mall developer Stephen R. Karp and Lennar Corp. of Florida and their respective teams came close to buying the land in the past three months, before seeing their deals fall apart.

Last night, a Hyatt spokesman repeated that the company wants to see the land developed with extensive amounts of public access and the amenities that have long been planned, no matter who ultimately owns or builds on the land.

"We are committed that the Fan Pier will be sold to a purchaser that will develop the property in line with the commitments we have made to the city and consistent with the standards of quality we have outlined," the spokesman said.

The executive familiar with the marketing of the site said options, besides selling to a single party, include putting the sale on hold until the right buyer comes along, or holding onto the land and selling off development rights for the eight separate blocks to multiple development teams. Selling the land itself in separate parcels would be cumbersome and time-consuming, as well as presenting problems for developers.

The land is permitted for about 3 million square feet of residential, office, commercial, and hotel use, as well as extensive public spaces and a marina. It is estimated completing Fan Pier over a decade would cost $1.2 billion.

The Lennar team missed a deadline for a down payment in September, and Karp and his partners grabbed the option to buy. But they backed out recently, saying they needed more time to put together a plan to increase the amount of commercial space at the site. Both teams had offered $125 million for the land before their deals fell through.

Both Lennar and a team including Leggat McCall Properties LLC are still interested in buying and developing the property, people in real estate have said since the Karp deal was canceled.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.