A 3.4-acre site just east of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Anaheim is being considered for a four-diamond hotel, the latest luxury hospitality project proposed for the area around the Anaheim Resort district.
Irvine-based real estate developer and investor Greenlaw Partners recently filed plans with the city to build a 14-story, 300-room hotel and a parking structure at 1601 S. Anaheim Blvd., an unused site beside the freeway close to Disney Way.
The hotel would include a rooftop bar and restaurant, spa, and meeting space, according to Greenlaw’s plans. Company executives are hoping to get city approvals for the project this year and start construction next year.
A brand or operator for the hotel hasn’t been disclosed. Greenlaw would buy the city-owned land before starting construction under terms that also haven’t been disclosed.
Greenlaw is exploring home development that would be next to the hotel in a future development phase, the city filings show.
The site is a little less than a mile from Disneyland Resort on the opposite side of the freeway. It’s the largest proposed hotel in Anaheim east of the 5 Freeway and the fifth proposed AAA, four-diamond hotel to serve visitors to the 1,100-acre resort area that includes Disneyland and Anaheim Convention Center.
A little more than half of the city’s some 150 existing hotels are in the resort area, but only two meet AAA’s standards for the four-diamond luxury category: Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. Inc., operator of Disneyland Resort, announced last year that it planned to build a 700-room, luxury-class hotel on 25 acres it owns at 1401 Disneyland Drive. Construction is scheduled to start next year.
Last month, an affiliate of Hong Kong-based developer Wincome Group announced it was moving ahead with plans for one of two four-diamond quality projects it plans in the area, a 630-room, $225 million project on Katella Avenue next to the convention center.
The 358-room Anabella Hotel will close in August so its owners can demolish it and build the luxe hotel, Wincome said last month.
A Wincome affiliate also owns the 302-room Anaheim Hotel, renamed last month from Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, across Harbor Boulevard from Disneyland Resort. It’s slated to be redeveloped into a $208-million, 580-room luxury hotel; a construction schedule hasn’t been released.
A venture between Prospera Hotels Inc. and O’Connell Hotels & Hospitality plan a 12-story, four-diamond quality JW Marriott for 2.8 acres next to the Anaheim Gardenwalk entertainment center. Construction could start this year and cost about $150 million.
Wincome’s two projects and the proposed Disney hotel are part of a three-hotel tax reimbursement deal the city approved last July that totals $560 million over 20 years. The JW Marriott would be financed through a similar program the city signed off on in 2013.
The Greenlaw project at 1601 S. Anaheim Blvd. wouldn’t be part of the tax incentive programs.
“We are in the early stages of reviewing this project,” said Anaheim spokesperson Mike Lyster. “We continue to see strong demand for hotels in and around the Anaheim Resort with more than a dozen projects in the works.”
OmniDuct Site Sale
Greenlaw plans a few other local hotel projects, including a six-story, 165-room hotel it’s proposed for land it owns next to its 19-story City Plaza tower in Orange.
It also has a number of holdings in Anaheim, including industrial buildings and developable land. Real estate sources said it’s been shopping for other large office projects there to buy.
It sold one of its existing industrial sites in Anaheim, a 7.4-acre parcel in the Platinum Triangle, last week to residential developer Trumark Homes, which plans the first for-sale housing project in that part of the city in years.
The builder, a unit of Danville-based developer Trumark Cos., plans a 153-unit condominium project at the site just north of Katella Avenue at 1700 S. Lewis St. The property is now used by OmniDuct Systems, a commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning company that’s planning to move operations elsewhere.
Trumark disclosed its plans for the housing project early last year. It completed the purchase of the land last week for about $24.7 million, or roughly $3.3 million an acre.
Greenlaw bought the site from OmniDuct for about $20.9 million.
