Palm Springs Planning Commission tables plan for third luxury hotel downtown
The Palm Springs Planning Commission hit a speed bump getting the ball rolling for what would be the third luxury hotel to be built in downtown.
The third proposed hotel, called the Park Hotel, is slated to be built on a lot on the northeast corner of Belardo Road and Main Street. The hotel proposal includes that it will be over 112,000 sq. feet and will be located just north of the Kimpton Hotel, which is already under construction.
News Channel 3 contacted Virgin Hotels, which is owned by Sir Richard Branson, and currently has one location in Chicago with plans to expand.
Laura Kilroy, Communications Manager for Virgin Hotels, released this statement:
“Palm Springs is a very desirable destination for Virgin Hotels and we’re excited at the possibility of opening a property there. At the moment we’re not in a position to elaborate but as soon as we are, we’ll be in touch. “
The Virgin Hotel brand lists future projects in Nashville, New York and Dallas. The company would not confirm they are the proposed “Park Hotel”, but the only project of this size being proposed in Palm Springs is the mystery project in the downtown area.
Some people who came out to Wednesdays Planning Commission meeting are for the new hotel.
“This hotel coming right on the 50 yard line in Downtown Palm Springs will be a huge home run considering that for the past few years we have been trying to attract a demographic of people from our major feeder markets,” said Aftab Dada, chairman of PS Resorts.
Others who took the podium were against adding another hotel to the project.
“You have concentrated three hotels on one corner in development, and none of these hotels have their set back built very well, because in some places you have eight-foot sidewalks and then you have 60 to 75 feet of walls of building,” said Michael Jonston of Palm Springs.
Other residents complained about access to parking and blocking the view of the mountains from Palm Canyon.
In the end, the commission tabled a vote on the new hotel along with amending some other parts of the construction plan until they review more of the details, including a section where they would raise the height requirement for the lot from 16 feet to 75 feet to fit the new hotel.
“We really sent it back to staff with a lot of questions, but this is all coming at a time where we have the public all worked up about what this Downtown Project is going to be, and part of the reason they are worked up about it is because it’s confusing,” said J.R. Roberts, vice chair of the Palm Springs Planning Commission.
Also after two years of asking by the commission, Wessman Development made a 3D model of what these hotels would look like. Along with a few extras. The developer added a few model buildings that aren’t even being considered to be built.
Those models were removed during the meeting to avoid confusion, but the model for the Park Hotel remains, even though that building has not been approved either.
The commission hasn’t decided how, but they are hoping to have the 3D model open to the public.
The tabled items will be back on the agenda when the planning commission meets again on November 12th at 9 am.
