July 18–SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Developers who want to build a long-planned 124-room hotel next to Mission San Juan Capistrano can start working on it in stages, the city's Design Review Committee has decided.
The plan for Plaza Banderas Hotel — approved by the City Council in 2011 as a 3-star hotel but never built — consists of three buildings. Developer Bill Griffith's Mission Commercial Properties sought permits last year for a new 4-star hotel design called Inn at the Mission, but he withdrew the plans in the face of a challenge by critics. Falling back on the city-approved 2011 design, he is reworking the interiors with a goal of upgrading the original design to a 4-star hotel for Marriott International.
Before structural work can begin, the city must certify that the new plans are consistent with the original plan approved in 2011.
"It is just a confirmation check," Dan Friess, Griffith's associate on the project, told the city's Design Review Committee. "Obviously our goal is to not open the box of design and start going back and forth."
On a 3-0 vote, Thursday, July 13, the committee declared that the hotel's one-story restaurant building and a two-story retail and office building are consistent.
That could enable Griffith's team to obtain foundation permits from the city for those two buildings. City officials haven't yet seen an updated plan for the third and final building, the hotel itself. The committee's approval is appealable to the City Council, city staff said.
Griffith and Friess said they are working diligently, with Marriott's approval, to rework the hotel building to deliver 4-star dimensions within the buildings' original footprint.
"The reason we are phasing this project is, with the conversion of the main building it's a significant structure (and) it's far more technical than the two smaller commercial buildings that we have out on the west and southern end of the property," Friess said. "We are several months behind on the hotel building.
"For a variety of business reasons," Friess said, "it's very important that we get going. We'd like to get the site improved. We'd like to finish the balance of the fine grading, get our parking lot in and get these two buildings started."
During public comment, local resident Steve Behmerwohld told the committee that the two buildings look great but he said he has a concern about approving them ahead of the larger hotel structure.
His concern, he said, is that "Mr. Griffith holds you hostage and says 'well I can't build the hotel the way it was, I need to do it this way,' and then you have two buildings out of the puzzle and you're kind of stuck accepting the third one whether you like it or not."
Friess replied that the project has a strict development agreement and a lender sign-off. "We have very little wiggle room" to redesign, he said.
The committee also received a letter in the agenda packet from local resident Steve Oedekerk, who owns the graded site for a city-approved 4-star 102-room Kimpton Hotel Capistrano project two blocks south of the mission.
Oedekerk wrote that he found it hypocritical that the Griffith group is suing to try to block construction of Hotel Capistrano, based on assertions it will impair the public view of two historic buildings that Griffith owns on Camino Capistrano. He said Griffith's hotel is significantly bigger and will completely obscure the view of "the most precious historic asset in San Juan Capistrano" — the mission.
Oedekerk wrote that his own hotel plan does not block the visibility of any historic structure from any angle on Camino Capistrano. "The hypocrisy is enormous and should be noted," he wrote to the committee.
Friess, in a post-meeting reply, said "the last year has been difficult fighting off legal threats and project appeals. We hope the negative dialogue winding through the community will soon find resolution. It is unfortunate that local businesses do not see historic preservation as important as we do, but we think our community's heritage is integral to our identity and is worth protecting. We are glad we can rely upon our original 2011 project approval to deliver a high quality luxury guest experience in our hotel development managed by the Autograph Collection, the fastest growing brand by Marriott International."
Committee members, after discussion of the two buildings, agreed to make the required consistency finding while also asking for design tweaks to be brought back to them for another look.
"It's consistent," Committee Chairman Stan Braden said of the new design. "It just needs a little more work."
