The proposed Abbot Kinney Hotel on the increasingly uncool boulevard is back with a few changes to try to please the neighbors. The project was a four-story, 92-room luxury hotel that would knock out two existing businesses (Joe's and Primitivo Wine Bistro). The neighbors were not happy with that plan--some went so far as to call it "a disaster for the community"--so now, says the Argonaut, it's down to three stories and 85 rooms, and it's no longer going to take out any buildings or businesses. But, surprise, many in the neighborhood still aren't won over.
Some neighbors continue to worry that increased traffic to the area from hotel guests will strip the area of its neighborhood feel (uh, too late), make parking even harder to find, and create gridlock. Hotel architect David Hertz, however, points out that a recent Department of Transportation survey says there will not be any "significant traffic impacts" if the hotel is built, and that the hotel is smaller than zoning requires it to be. Meanwhile, a member of the Venice Neighborhood Council's Land Use and Planning Committee says that, while the scaled-back designs are on the right path, the building is still too "monolithic" and she had hoped for a new, more creative design for the hotel, adding that there's a "general sense that this project is just too big."
· Room for an inn? Dan Abrams hopes his plan to build Abbot Kinney's first hotel will mesh with a neighborhood that doesn't take kindly to development [Argonaut Online]
· Fancy Hotel With Day Spa Proposed For Abbot Kinney in Venice [Curbed LA]
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