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Developer Don Bourn got a warning from City Council members Thursday that any more delays in building on a vacant block Downtown will send them looking for a new builder.

The three-member Rio Nuevo subcommittee also told Bourn the city won't be offering his company any major incentives that aren't available to other builders.

The subcommittee also heard a Transportation Department report that developer Jim Campbell's proposal to create a "Plaza Centro" at the east end of Congress Street is not feasible.

Council members Jose Ibarra, Nina Trasoff and Steve Leal voted to give Bourn 30 to 45 days to finalize a development agreement with the city and bring it back to them for approval.

They agreed to fast track a rezoning to help Bourn out, but added they would put strict restrictions on Bourn from now on. Any failure to meet the new conditions will trigger a search for a new developer, they said.

"Time is not a luxury anymore," Ibarra said referring to the new timetable for getting the project done. "Everybody needs to be held accountable," he said.

Bourn was originally awarded the right to develop much of the south side of East Congress between Stone and Scott avenues in June 2004, getting the land for $100. Bourn pressed to have existing buildings on the block, including a pre-1900 structure built by pioneer rancher George Pusch, torn down quickly, only to leave the property vacant for 18 months.

This month he asked for more than $4 million in potential public assistance from the city.

Bourn acknowledged he made a mistake not buying an adjacent parking lot from Chase Bank (then Bank One) before trying to develop the property.

Bourn said without the parking lot, on which the city was supposed to build a parking garage, he had to go for an alternate plan.

The plan Bourn presented was for a 13- or 14-story building with about 90 condos and two levels of parking. The plan includes demolishing the roughly 90-year-old Bank One Annex, adjacent to the Chase building.

Bourn said it has to be taken down to allow cars to get into the parking garage.

The project would cost between $30 million and $36 million and include 17,000 square feet of retail.

Preparing the land would take 12 to 16 months, he said, while construction would take another 16 to 20 months.

He stressed he has already spent $1.3 million on the project and said he feels his company "is out on a limb here."

"A lot of my development friends say 'your nuts,' " he said, although he stressed he is still committed to the project.

In other business, City Transportation Director Jim Glock said a proposal to scrap the new Fourth Avenue Underpass to accommodate Campbell's proposed development is not feasible.

He said simply improving the existing underpass would slow and disrupt traffic and traffic-signal progression through Downtown. He said it would also delay underpass construction 12 to 24 months.

Campbell, who wants to build an eight-story commercial and condominium project where the old Greyhound Bus Depot now sits at the east end of Downtown, was unfazed and will present his proposal again to the committee within a month.