After a long and tumultuous development period, Ballard's first major hotel appears to be back on track and ready for a December ground-breaking at the former site of the Yankee Diner on Shilshole Avenue Northwest.

Earlier this month, Diamond Parking and Pacific Fisheries Shipyard were asked to remove their vehicles from the parking lot in front of the shuttered diner at 5425 Shilshole Ave N.W. by Nov. 15, according to a number of sources, including Pacific Fisheries General Manager Doug Dixon. The groundbreaking date has been given variously as Dec. 1 and Dec. 15.

According to a construction permit issued Sept. 20 by the Seattle Department of Planning and Development to Ballard Hotel LLC, the project will be a six-story, 170-room hotel with parking for 211 vehicles both above and below grade. The construction permit was originally applied for in July 2008 and expires in March 2012.

The pre-construction history of the hotel has been full of changes in both name and ownership structure.

Originally, the hotel was going to be under the banner of Silver Cloud Inns and was to begin construction prior to 2008.

When the Ballard News-Tribune spoke to Don Schwartz, one of the principles behind the new hotel, in Jan. 2009, he said construction was on hold while the city and architects worked to go over building codes. At that point, he said they were looking at a Feb. 2009 start for construction for the hotel under the name Point Hotel at Salmon Bay.

The history of the project since then, as well as its current name and ownership, are unclear. The project had been described by various sources at various times as under the Cambrian Inn Hotels banner, sold to new owners or simply bankrupt.

Neither of the two principles behind the new hotel returned interview requests for this article.