Just as there appeared to be progress towards approving a contractor for the American Greetings world headquarters project at Crocker Park, things have stalled.

Tuesday evening's scheduled meeting of the Committee of the Whole -- which includes Mayor Dennis Clough, City Council and city department heads -- to discuss hiring a contractor for the city's share of the project was cancelled just after noon on Tuesday.

"We're still on hold in terms of all the agreements,"  said city engineer Robert Kelly.

It's not just the city involved, Kelly explained, there are three major players: American Greetings and Crocker Park as well as the city. All of them must agree on the deal and the contractor. All three have their own concerns. And all three have their own lawyers.

"This is probably one of the more complex projects you'll see," Kelly said.

The city's responsibility in the project includes streets, utilities such as water and sewer lines, parking lots and garages, and off-site projects like street and utility work near the site. Plans for those are the focus of the engineering department now, Kelly said.

A tentative Committee of the Whole meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 3, at City Hall. If that happens, City Council could vote on approving the contractor at its scheduled Dec. 6 meeting.

Can a contractor be approved before Christmas?

"If I could make predictions like that, I'd be going out and buying a Powerball ticket," Kelly said.