By TATIANA PROPHET
A Newport Beach developer says he is close to bringing a hotel to one of the busiest intersections in Whittier.
Craig Smith, owner of Fountainhead Pacific LP, said he is in talks with “the nation’s best flags” for a 150-room, high-end extended stay hotel in Whittier, just over the northern county line.
He declined to say which hotel companies he’s talking with.
The hotel is planned for the “five points” section of west Whittier, where five roads converge, including Whittier and Washington boulevards.
The parcel is one of Whittier’s most blighted, according to one city official. It used to house the Ricker Motors auto dealership and has been vacant for the past several years.
Because of the shaky real estate market, the city’s redevelopment agency is backing the hotel deal with Fountainhead.
Redevelopment projects often involve incentives. But Whittier’s deal goes further than tax breaks.
The redevelopment agency is committed to buying the land should a hotel or other deal by Fountainhead fall through.
For about 1 acre at the northwest corner of Whittier and Washington boulevards, the agency has agreed to pay nearly $2.8 million if Fountainhead doesn’t land a hotel, medical office or office building in the next year or so.
“I think this is a first,” said Jeff Collier, Whittier’s director of community development and deputy director of its redevelopment agency. “If the economy were better, we might not need to do that. But we’re willing to do that and try and stimulate the economy here within our region and keep things rolling along.”
Another reason the city may have needed to sweeten the deal: The land is just south of the former Omega Chemical Corp., an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup site.
In 1995, the site’s owner pleaded guilty to charges of illegal storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. The EPA is building a plant to treat the groundwater. It should be operational in a few months, Collier said.
Smith said he approached the city after seeing that the property had been in escrow several times with shopping center developers.
Originally, the city wanted to put a medical office building on the property, since it is just east of Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital.
But Smith suggested pursuing a hotel for the area. The city agreed after doing a market study. Whittier is in the process of buying a nearby parcel to add to Fountainhead’s hotel project.
A hotel could create jobs, serve the hospital and generate occupancy tax for the city, Smith said.
Fountainhead has a history of building projects around emerging opportunities or on sites where plans previously fizzled.
While developing a shopping center in Compton, Smith approached Britain’s Tesco PLC about having its Fresh & Easy store be the center’s anchor tenant.
“They made a decision they wanted to penetrate the North American market,” Smith said. “We were able to put together a transaction relatively quickly.”
The store opened in February.
Fountainhead, which mainly develops shopping centers, is working to land tenants for a retail center it is developing in Duarte, near the Foothill (210) Freeway.
“This is probably the most visible, highly trafficked intersection in the city of Duarte,” Smith said.
The developer also has redevelopment projects in Long Beach, Indio and Coachella.
Fountainhead hopes to land a brand for the proposed Whittier hotel in six months to a year, according to Smith. He said he hopes to have construction plans within a year to 18 months.
Prophet is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
