A 400-foot Ferris wheel, complete with a light show and museum exhibits, would be downtown’s next big attraction if proposers of the Skywheel at Discovery Point get the nod from the San Diego Unified Port District.

The $200 million project at G Street Mole, just south of the USS Midway Museum, is just one of three competing Ferris wheels the port board will discuss next week as it decides if now is the time to act before it completes its bay-wide master plan.

The proposals came from developers Charles Black and David Malmuth in partnership with SeaWorld; Allegis Development, headed by Kip Howard; and Chance American Wheels, represented by Molly Bowman Styles, according to the San Diego Unified Port District. A fourth proposal by Bruce Denham of San Diego Bay Adventures has been withdrawn.

The Black-Malmuth Skywheel will be previewed Wednesday by the Environment + Design Council, a coalition of various architectural and planning groups that will meet at noon at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design downtown.

Called the San Diego Skywheel at Discovery Point, the $200 million project would include a 400-foot wheel and a three-level, 420-space parking garage topped by a 30,000-square-foot pavilion on the parking lot at the G Street Mole, just south of Navy Pier and the USS Midway Museum. SeaWorld would maintain and operate the attraction.

The wheel would be smaller than the 443-foot London Eye and Las Vegas’ 550-foot High Roller but more than three times the size of the San Diego County Fair’s 112-foot Grand Wheel in Del Mar. It would be outfitted with digitally controlled lighting and the pavilion would display exhibits from local museums and institutions to introduce visitors to San Diego’s history and accomplishments. Its 30 gondolas would transport 25 riders each in 30-minute rotations for 1.7 million to 2.3 million annually. The admission price is projected at $25 to $30.

“The story we wanted to tell was the San Diego story, how precious our environment is,” Malmuth said. “That story can only be told when you’re actually seeing, touching and feeling it… Our hope is what you walk away with is a renewed understanding of the preciousness of this place and what an incredibly special place San Diego plays in this ecosystem.”

Funding would come from investors who have not yet been identified, Malmuth said.

The port staff has suggested all wheel proposals be presented at the board’s Feb. 10 meeting and seek direction how they should be analyzed.

But outgoing board chairman Bob Nelson said it is premature to consider any of them until the port’s new master plan is completed over the next four years. The board will set its February agenda at next Tuesday’s meeting.

“I feel it is totally inappropriate to consider any such major new project when we have not even started on the process of determining the best types of uses in the very limited developable land we have,” Nelson said.

Diane Coombs, cochairwoman of the Navy Broadway Complex Coalition that also monitors general downtown waterfront issues, called the project “dead on arrival.”