By Eliza Ridgeway
The Los Altos City Council officially announced the demise of a downtown hotel last week, concluding a multiyear saga of city negotiation with local developers. Mayor Curtis Cole said the city’s negotiations with developer Roxy Rapp, which had been extended several times, had been terminated by the city.
The city-owned site at First and Main streets, currently leased to Better Home Consignment, has been the subject of speculation for years as various developers and interested citizens lobbied for a movie theater or boutique hotel. Both ideas have been vanquished by the financial realities of the site.
Local developer John Challas, who became involved in the hotel plans last spring, said a hotel in that location would, at best, struggle to turn a profit. He cited stiff competition among local high-end accommodations, including a new luxury hotel on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, as well as escalating constructions costs, particularly for a luxury facility like the one envisioned.
Cole said the city council “may decide at a future time to consider what to do with that site,” but for now any hopes of a land sale are dead in the water.
A big building project just down the street from the scuppered hotel site is coming under consideration this afternoon at the Los Altos Architecture and Site Review Committee meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. The committee is discussing five building and remodeling projects around town, including a new 25,222-squarefoot post office on First Street, with 20 condominium units on a second story. The committee will also discuss two new two-story houses on Eleanor and Santa Rita avenues, a second-story addition on El Monte Avenue and a concept for a new office and retail building on the empty lot at the corner of Main Street and San Antonio Road.
The Los Altos Planning Commission will discuss applying a single-story overlay district, which limits new homes and renovations to a single-story, to properties on Panchita Way between Jardin Drive and Alvarado Avenue 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
