By Jason Islas
Staff Writer

January 24, 2012 -- A major new hotel expected to revitalize the northeast corner of Santa Monica's Downtown district will get a hard first look Wednesday when the Planning Commission devotes most of its meeting to the proposed 285-room facility.

The proposed project calls for the conversion of the landmark Santa Monica Professional Building at 710 Wilshire Boulevard into a 55-room hotel and the addition of another 230 rooms in a new structure that will replace the adjacent parking lot.

The 74-year-old, seven-story Professional Building and the new six-story structure will also include 15,600 square feet of ground-floor restaurant and retail space, a roof-top swimming pool, and a four-level subterranean parking structure.

When the project was originally floated up to the City Council and Planning Commission in 2009 and 2010, the original design called for a new eight-story structure and 26,000 square feet of retail space, as well as 16 multi-family units.

“The near unanimous direction was that the scale of the project needed to be adjusted in order to retain the integrity of the Landmark and have greater compatibility with the surrounding area,” staff wrote in its report.

Downtown officials believe the project will be a boon to the area, creating activity at the street level where it can be accessed easily by passers-by.

The homeowners group in the area withdrew its opposition after the initial proposal calling for a much larger facility was scaled-down.
           
The Landmarks Commission also seems to be on board after City staff negotiated community benefits that call for historic preservation and adaptive re-use of the landmark office building in the development agreement.

The Landmarks Commission designated the Spanish Colonial Revival-style highrise, built in 1928, as a landmark in 2005, two years before the developer applied for a development review permit.

Among the other community benefits negotiated are a local hiring program for construction and permanent jobs, as well as a $244,000 transportation infrastructure fee.