There’ve been no hotels built in the area around John Wayne Airport since early this decade. But the list of prospective projects keeps growing.
Early stage plans for two hotels, totaling more than 300 rooms, were filed in recent weeks with the city of Irvine’s planning department.
Proposals include an upscale aloft brand hotel by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. near the intersection of Main Street and Von Karman Avenue, as well as another, unnamed hotel just off MacArthur Boulevard, near the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway.
City documents show plans being filed for a 170-room aloft hotel at 2300 Main St. That’s part of the Main Corporate Center, a three-building campus owned by Irvine-based LBA Realty, a real estate investment and management company.
The campus has two undeveloped parcels of land, which would boost the campus’ size to about 490,000 square feet when complete.
The undeveloped site is across the street from an Embassy Suites Irvine, and is also near the Crowne Plaza Irvine and Irvine Marriott Hotel.
Likely Winner
If it goes forward, the aloft project’s likely to be a winner, said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group.
“The Irvine market isn’t underserved as a whole, but some (upscale) segments are. The Starwood brand is a big draw,” he said.
There are currently six Starwood aloft hotels in the U.S. and one in California, in Rancho Cucamonga. The urban-influenced hotels have just begun opening; they typically have loft-like nine-foot ceilings and oversized windows.
Also being proposed: a 132-room hotel at 17601 Fitch Drive, the site of a 50,000-square-foot office building. The property’s just off MacArthur Boulevard, near the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway. It’s about a mile from Tustin’s former Marine helicopter base.
Its proximity to other hotels just across the Irvine border in Santa Ana could prove a challenge for the proposed development, depending on what the hotel brand is, Reay said.
Faith Defenders Ministries bought the Fitch property in 2004, for about $7 million. The building is reportedly in escrow for another sale. The property was most recently listed for $10.5 million, according to CoStar Group Inc.
A number of churches use the building for services, and would relocate if the hotel plan goes forward, brokers said. The property brings in about $31,000 per month in subleases to five churches, according to marketing materials for the property.
Neither Irvine project is expected to break ground any time soon, according to city officials. But the proposals add to a now busy backlog of hotel projects being considered for the airport area.
More Hotels
Most notably, the latest plans come on the heels of last month’s announcement that three hotels should start being built at Tustin’s Legacy Park in about a year. Those hotels, totaling about 400 rooms, include Orange County’s first Kimpton boutique hotel.
Irvine-based R.D. Olson Development is set to build and own the three Tustin hotels, which should be complete by the end of 2010. A fourth hotel is also being considered for the former marine base.
Another 220 rooms have been proposed for a tower along Michelson Drive in Irvine. The tower would also include more than 200 condominium units, according to a city filing.
It’s unlikely that the project,which would back up to the campus of Allergan Inc.,will move ahead as is, parties familiar with the project said. Office development is more likely for the site.
Hefty development fees for Irvine’s airport area mean that for a new hotel to work, it most likely has to be an upscale project, Reay said
Only a few hotel projects have broken ground anywhere in OC in recent years.
The county as a whole saw no hotels open in 2007, according to Atlas Hospitality Group. In 2006, 491 rooms opened.
This year will see more additions. Six hotels currently are under construction here, with a total of 1,460 rooms.
The largest hotel going up is the 400-room expansion of the Newport Coast Villas, a timeshare resort.
There’s about 20,800 total hotel rooms in all of OC. Close to 10% of those rooms are in Irvine.
