Brea : Development of Hotel on Mall Lot Approved

A 10-story hotel on two acres of the Brea Mall parking lot was approved by the City Redevelopment Agency Wednesday night by a 4-0 vote at the conclusion of a public hearing that drew no speakers.

A lease agreement was then signed by hotel developers and the Brea Foundation, the quasi-public agency that owns the property.

“We want to be the city in north county that everyone’s talking about instead of South Coast Plaza,” said Councilman Sam Cooper, one of the Redevelopment Agency members, after the vote.

The hotel, which is planned for the section of the lot between the Civic Cultural Center and the mall, is expected to cost between $13 million and $15 million. It will be built and operated by Brea Inn Associates, a partnership formed by McFaddin Ventures of Houston and Stan Gribble & Associates of Newport Beach.

The Brea Foundation will lease the property for about $140,000 a year to the hotel’s operators and will use the money to support its cultural and other activities.

The hotel will have 200 rooms and will include 7,000 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant, expansive lobby and an entertainment club. McFaddin Ventures, which will manage the hotel, owns and operates 20 hotels and 35 entertainment clubs across the country.

Now that the lease has been signed, only the final architectural plans need to be approved before construction can begin, Kelly said. Construction could begin within six months on the site.