The Santa Monica Holiday Inn--the cheatingest hotel in Greater LA--rebranded itself as a Wyndham at the start of the month, and is trying to drum up support for a major makeover to go with the new name. Back in November, news broke that hotel owner FelCor (sadly not Falcor) wanted to revamp the hotel and add three towers to the site, including one 195-feet high. Even though the plan is still in the very early stages, people really hate it. The Santa Monica Lookout reported last year that city councilmembers who were approached about the project were not into the idea. When he heard about the three tower plan, Councilmember Kevin McKeown told the paper "That'll never fly in Santa Monica." Fast forward to this week's Santa Monica planning commission meeting, and FelCor chariman Tom Corcoran is still trying--and failing--to find some love for the plan.
Wednesday's meeting was ostensibly about Santa Monica's Downtown Specific Plan, but Corcoran got into an off-topic discussion with a planning commissioner, who asked when the company "would give up on plans for so large a development on the site," according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. If the concept does move forward, it would be the third-tallest hotel tower planned for Santa Monica's western edge; both the Fairmont and the Frank Gehry-designed Ocean Avenue Project up the street clock in at over 200 feet.
· Downtown hotel gets new name [SMDP, image via]
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