By JOSEPH ASCENZI
Santa Ana developer Nexus Cos. plans to build a Hard Rock condominium hotel on 10 acres in downtown Palm Springs.
Nexus has bought the last parcel of land it needs in Palm Springs to make way for the planned 499-room hotel, principal Richard Meaney said.
The hotel is set to cost $250 million to develop. Construction is expected to start early next year and finish by mid-2009.
The project could generate $2 million to $3 million a year in hotel taxes for Palm Springs, Meaney said.
Nexus spent about a year assembling the land needed for the hotel. It bought the parcels from the city of Palm Springs, travel agency owner Lois Anderson and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which runs the nearby Spa Resort Casino.
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Anderson, owner of Anderson Travel Services, agreed to move her agency to another spot on East Tahquitz Canyon Way, though not without some resistance.
“There was some talk of the city using eminent domain, but it was settled before that happened,” Meaney said.
Michael Kassinger of the Palm Desert office of Irvine-based Sperry Van Ness represented Nexus in the land buys. Anderson represented herself.
Downtown Palm Springs needs more upscale hotel rooms, Meaney said.
“The convention center has been expanded, so they need more full-service hotels downtown,” he said.
Nexus plans to sell time-share condominiums at the hotel. Owners can use them part of the year. They’ll be rented as rooms at other times.
Owners probably will be allowed to use their condos about 70 days a year, with restrictions on how many days they can be used in a row.
The city is interested in hotel room taxes and wants to see as many rooms rented as possible, Meaney said
The Hard Rock Hotel chain is part of Rank Group PLC’s Hard Rock International Inc., which is being sold to casino operator Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc.
Nexus has built other projects in Palm Springs.
In 2005, it finished the Biltmore Colony with 152 homes and condos near downtown. The retro project is on the same site as the former Biltmore Hotel, an old Hollywood hangout.
Nexus also has built lofts and condos elsewhere in Palm Springs.
In Santa Ana, Nexus is under way on construction of two condo towers with 349 homes at MacArthur Boulevard and the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway.
The company’s Skyline at MacArthur Place condos should be done by early 2008.
Ascenzi is a staff writer with the Business Press in Ontario.
