Butler officials still are waiting for the developer of the proposed downtown hotel to buy the land for the project.

Mayor Tom Donaldson said he expected Jeff Schmitz, owner of J.S. Capitol, to finalize the deal to buy the land for the project on Tuesday from the city redevelopment authority.

“He wasn’t even there,” Donaldson said. “I’m very frustrated. It’s unbelievable things like this keep going on.”

J.S. Capitol is to be the majority owner of the 76-room Marriott Springhill Suites hotel. The city redevelopment authority is to own 36 percent of the structure.

However, city officials said the developer is attempting to get more stake in the property before finalizing a deal to buy the land.

“The developer is trying to leverage us in a mistaken belief that the city is in a disadvantage,” Donaldson said. “That’s not going to fly.”

The hotel is expected to join the city’s proposed 239-space parking garage as part of the Centre City project.

Donaldson said the hotel needs to finalize its deal with the authority before the city will move forward with its proposed parking garage to eliminate the risk of the city building a garage and then having the hotel project fall through.

The hotel is to be the primary tenant of the parking garage, and will pay for at least 50 spaces every night.

The city’s deadline to award contracts on the project is quickly approaching. Donaldson said the city has until Sunday to award contracts before those bidders are able to withdraw their offers.

“They (J.S. Capitol)have until Friday or this project will fall apart,” Donaldson said.

Schmitz said in a phone call Tuesday that he was not aware he was supposed to attend a meeting on Tuesday.

“Nobody told me anything about it,” he said.

Schmitz said he has been in talks with Don Graham, the solicitor for the authority, about the purchase agreement.

“I’d like to buy the land,” he said. “We’re working through it.”

When asked if he thinks a deal can be done this week, Schmitz said, “I don’t see why not.”