In February, Paul Makarechian outlined big plans to revamp and add condominiums to his company’s Wyndham Orange County hotel in Costa Mesa.
Don’t expect such sweeping changes to the Hilton Anaheim & Towers, which his Newport Beach-based Makar Properties LLC bought last week.
There are no plans to cut the number of rooms or convert any portion of the hotel to condos, Makarechian said.
The goal, he said, is to renovate the Hilton, which opened in 1984, to modern standards. Renovation budgets are yet to be set, Makarechian said, though the company is looking at estimates of more than $50 million.
The company paid an estimated $160 million for the Hilton, the county’s largest hotel by rooms. The 1,572-room hotel, across from the Anaheim Convention Center, sold for $100,000 per room, just above the $94,635 median price per room for OC hotels sold in 2006.
Stanwill Cos., headed by Anaheim’s Stan Castleton, sold the hotel.
The hotel is set to undergo a renovation of guestrooms, ballrooms, meeting space and public areas starting later this year.
The hotel’s most recent upgrade was the addition last month of check-in kiosks that allow guests to bypass the front desk and to print boarding passes for return flights.
Last year, the Hilton remodeled the spa and The Avenue,a restaurant, nightclub and lounge area carved from a former restaurant and bar in 2003.
Makar is looking at the hotel’s restaurant, bar and food service “to see how we can enhance it,” Makarechian said. That includes talking to potential restaurant operators, he said.
El Segundo-based Linda Snyder Associates, which designed Jurys Boston hotel, has been tapped to redesign guestrooms and corridors. Creative Resource Associations of Culver City is doing the hotel’s public areas.
Creative Resource’s projects include turning a Mexico City office building into an Embassy Suites and creating the atrium lobby at JW Marriott Desert Springs.
The guest room renovation is expected to take about a year to complete at a rate of 100 to 150 rooms at a time, according to the hotel’s director of sales and marketing Edd Karlan. Meeting space and ballroom renovations are expected to take about six months, he said.
“The renovation will help the property, the market and the city of Anaheim,” said Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting Corp. in Los Angeles, which tracks the hotel market. “It’s a real shot in the arm for the convention center in a very competitive convention market.”
Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. is set keep its management contract for the hotel.
“We’re happy with the Hilton brand,” said Makarechian, chief executive of Makar. “It’s a great brand for that location and that asset. (Hilton) understands the product and the marketplace and has tremendous experience with the convention center.”
Kevin Johnstone, director of trade shows for music industry trade show NAMM,OC’s largest convention,said his group is looking forward to upgrades at the Hilton.
The hotel plans to work with NAMM and other groups on accommodations during the renovations, Karlan said.
Makar is looking to the renovation to drive higher room rates.
“The new owners expect a double-digit increase in rates and a healthy increase in occupancy” after the renovation, Karlan said.
The hotel’s nightly rate is $140 to $180 per night. The Hilton sees fluctuations in occupancy as trade shows come and go.
According to data from PKF, the average daily rate in January for Anaheim hotels with more than 600 rooms was $178.54. Those hotels had an occupancy rate of 72% for the month,one of the busiest for the convention center.
Makar developed and runs the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point.
The company also plans a 200-room luxury hotel in its Pacific City development in Huntington Beach that’s set to include offices, stores and homes.
Last year, Makar paid an estimated $42 million for the Wyndham Orange County.
In February, the company submitted plans to Costa Mesa to raze the hotel’s parking structure and build a 20-story condo tower alongside the hotel.
The hotel itself would see about 38 rooms cut to 200 in all.
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Athens Group Offers Latest Aliso Creek Plan
Athens Group, the Phoenix-based developer of the Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach, last week unveiled its latest proposal to redevelop the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course it bought in 2004.
The 325-acre project includes a tract formerly known as Driftwood Estates that Athens acquired in a separate deal.
Plans call for replacing the current hotel with 75 hotel rooms in a spa building, an inn and in guest cottages. The project also includes 36 cottage-style homes and nine lots for other homes. The Driftwood parcel is set to offer eight private lots along with a 3-acre parcel for use by the South Coast YMCA.
Three-quarters of the land, or about 249 acres, is set to stay as open space, Athens Vice President John Mansour said.
The hotel, homes and a nine-hole golf course would take up most of the rest of the space.
Athens Group plans several environmental projects as part of the development, including improving water quality, erosion protection, flood control and restoration of wildlife habitat within the boundaries of the project.
The company estimates a 24- to 36-month time frame to get approval for the project.
The open space and environmental projects are part of a bid to gain approval. The project has faced criticism from Laguna Beach residents and others.
,Sandi Cain
