Game time: Pangaea developer must sign tennis star for proposed Chula Vista Bayfront complex by July

The development team proposing a tennis-anchored sports complex on the Chula Vista Bayfront has less than six months to make good on a promise to procure a tennis superstar if it wants to keep the mega proposal in play.

On Jan. 1, the team behind the project, named Pangaea, entered into a short-term, exclusive negotiating agreement, or ENA, with the San Diego Unified Port District, concerning the development of a 124-acre site at 990 Bay Blvd. known as the Otay District.

The contract gives Pangaea Development, LLC, until July 1 to complete six key milestones, the most consequential of which is providing the port with proof, in the form of a non-binding letter of intent, that an elite professional athlete organization is committed to the tennis center portion of the project.

The agreement also lays the groundwork for the Board of Port Commissioners to extend the term for an additional two years should the development team meet the initial ENA requirements, which include completing a market demand study, submitting a project description and land-use plan, entering into a project labor agreement with unions and implementing a public outreach plan.

The executed ENA is the result of the board’s action in July to authorize the contract. Commissioners also voted at the time to waive the agency’s policy for a c...