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After hours of debate, City Council approves 6-story hotel

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A project to transform a 30,000-square-foot parking lot on North Louise Street into a six-story hotel was approved by City Council Tuesday, but not without hours of deliberation, a council member’s recusal and negotiations with developers about requested building exemptions.

The proposed plan by R.D. Olson Development to demolish a downtown parking lot and build a 147-room hotel on the southwest corner of Louise Street and Wilson Avenue came to council with three requested variances that were the subject of prolonged debate among council members.

For the record:

3:38 a.m. March 28, 2024An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Zareh Sinanyan’s first name as Zarah.

Still, the project and all requested variances were eventually approved in some form by council members Vrej Agajanian, Paula Devine, Ara Najarian and Mayor Vartan Gharpetian.

Because Councilman Zareh Sinanyan’s position on the Glendale YMCA board presented a possible conflict of interest — as the organization publicly opposed the project — he recused himself from the vote before discussion.

The developer’s most contentious request was that its design be allowed to exceed the maximum allowed floor-area-ratio, or FAR, of 3.0 as granted for hotel projects in the downtown area. It instead sought a variance for a 3.4 FAR, which was backed by a city staff member in a report that claimed the additional space would make room for “amenities desirable for a high-quality hotel.”

The 3.4 FAR variance was initially shot down 2-2, with Devine and Najarian dissenting. They cited concerns that allowing the 0.4 FAR excess would show a precedent for generous exemptions to city standards in an already dense downtown.

“What we are seeing here is a project getting an extra boost in density … be built,” Najarian said.

Yet, because of Glendale’s city charter, the 2-2 tie meant Sinanyan could return and cast the tie-breaking vote. After a brief recess, Najarian and Devine opted to negotiate lowering the FAR with the developer and remove the possibility of a 3-2 council vote for a maximum exemption.

Despite the staff recommendation stating “a strict application of the FAR would result in practical difficulties in achieving the product type desired by the developer,” Tony Wrzosek, vice president of planning for R.D. Olson, said the developer would commit to a design that would not exceed a 3.2 FAR, helping flip Devine and Najarian’s votes.

Along with the change to a 3.2 FAR, Devine and Najarian’s votes were contingent on the developer’s promise to add more art to the side of the building and adjust its other request to allow individual kitchen facilities in each guest room to target extended-stay travelers.

Najarian, concerned with extended-stay offerings in downtown, asked that branding by the future hotel employer not include “extended stay” in the name.

“I don’t think an extended stay is right for our downtown area,” Najarian said. “Perhaps in the outskirts, but in the core of our entertainment district, I don’t want an extended stay.”

Wrzosek also said he would consider options for reduced kitchen facilities at the request of Devine.

Outside of project variances were the concerns by hotel workers union Unite Here Local 11, whose members attended the meeting in large numbers to raise concerns about whether the developer would provide similar worker benefits that are offered at other hotels in the community.

Agajanian asked Wrzosek to guarantee that at least 15% of hotel hires be local and that full-time hotel employees be guaranteed a minimum $15-an-hour wage.

“Hiring will happen at or near the job site within the city of Glendale,” Wrzosek said. “We encourage [our managers] to hire local residents.”

Also approved were a $250,000 contribution to affordable housing, a 30-day hotel-stay limit and a requirement that the developer restripe a segment of Louise Street between the hotel and the intersection at Wilson Avenue for a dual-left-turn lane for traffic out of the project and neighboring YMCA.

According to Wrzosek, the developers are still working to find a hotel operator but it will “likely” be Marriott.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda

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