Developers Seeking OK to Reconstruct Vacant Huntington

While its fans around the world mourned the closing of the Huntington Sheraton hotel’s palatial old main building last October, just a block away a developer began planning its revival.

Lary Mielke said he was as stunned as anyone to learn that Pasadena’s last old resort hotel failed to meet seismic safety standards and would cease to be the heart of the neighborhood where he has lived for several years. It immediately occurred to him to buy it, he said, and within 30 days he sent a letter to the owners.

Nine months and countless studies later, Mielke and three partners face the first crucial tests in their bid to demolish the old building and replace it with a modern replica. They would, however, retain the Picture Bridge, with its overhead paintings by Frank M. Moore, and the Viennese and Georgian ballrooms.

The Pasadena Planning Commission is reviewing a request for a zoning change that is required if the building is to be reconstructed. The commission has studied the environmental impact of the proposal and is scheduled to decide at its Aug. 27 meeting what to recommend to the Pasadena Board of City Directors.

Meanwhile, at the urging of preservationists, specialists in the restoration of historic structures are making a final study to determine if all or part of the 80-year-old building can be saved. The report by the Ehrenkrantz Group of New York and San Francisco will be completed later this week, according to Christ Kamages, an architect and director of the group’s San Francisco office.

Mielke said that several studies by engineers, architects and seismic specialists have convinced him that it is not structurally or economically feasible to restore the building. He said that, in addition to major structural faults, the building lacks air conditioning, electrical wires are in conduits on the exterior of walls and many of the rooms are too small for modern standards.

Mielke formed Huntington Hotel Associates with partners Tom Tellefsen and William Zimmerman of Pasadena and James M. Galbraith of San Marino to buy the property from Keikyu USA Inc. Sheraton manages the portion of the hotel still open. The purchase by Huntington Hotel Associates is currently in escrow. Mielke would not disclose how soon the sale could become final or how much the property or restoration would cost.

He did say that he would not consider constructing any other kind of building on the site, calling the original “an excellent design,” that requires only minor changes.

“The only issue is between preservation versus restoration,” Mielke said.

Mielke is chairman of Gemtel Corp., a real estate firm that he said has built hotels in the Fiji Islands and the Caribbean, as well as several shopping centers.

The partners plan to rebuild the hotel and bring in a management company to operate it. “We have not considered developing it and selling it,” Mielke said.

According to the partners’ plan, the six-story main building with its cupola would remain faithful to the original, and the grounds and buildings around it would be modified to improve traffic, parking and service.

The hotel’s Spanish mission revival style was developed by architects Charles Whittlesey and Myron Hunt over a period of several years beginning in 1906. One of early Pasadena’s six great resort hotels, its C-shaped main building that tops a knoll in the city’s southern section is a landmark. It has housed presidents, royalty and celebrities. One of the early owners was railroad magnate Henry Huntington, who named it for himself.

During the hotel’s resort years, visitors from the East built their own vacation homes on the grounds, which they eventually deeded to the hotel. These “cottages,” as they are called--some of them large homes by today’s standards--are among more than 20 outbuildings that are included in the hotel property that covers 23 acres.

Also separate from the main building are the Viennese and Georgian ballrooms with their elaborate decor and huge crystal chandeliers. Mielke said that they would not be razed. However, his plans call for putting the main entry on the building’s north side, instead of at the eastern end that is familiar to thousands of people who met airport buses there for more than two decades. Two parking structures are planned, and one more may be built under tennis courts.

The restaurant, lounge and lobby areas would be rebuilt, but the mezzanine and Ship Room would not, Mielke said. The Lanai, a modern hotel building behind the main building, the Picture Bridge and Japanese garden would remain, and only one cottage, Rose Villa, would be razed.

Sketches by the MCG architectural firm show the exterior of the proposed new main building to be almost an exact replica of the existing one. The building would be five feet wider, expanded from 45 feet to 50 feet so that rooms and hallways could be bigger.

“We wanted to capture the nostalgic atmosphere that existed--there’s value in the history of the property,” Mielke said. “And we felt the community would better receive this, rather than building a high-rise or doing something else. There are things we could do differently that could make a more efficient building, but we feel we are making a good compromise.

“It requires huge investors, and that’s one reason we feel the building has to be replicated rather than restored. We’ll have a modern building that can compete in any marketplace. That’s a very critical element. A restored building is still going to have some weaknesses.”

Mielke said he does not doubt the seismic findings of Keikyu USA, whose studies made during plans for a massive renovation last year disclosed structural deficiencies.

No Ulterior Motive

“A lot of people think there was an ulterior motive in closing,” Mielke said. “If Keikyu intended to sell the property, they certainly would not have announced in the newspapers that the building was not earthquake-safe. That doesn’t make any sense.

“I think they had a very honest concern. The property had some real deficiencies.”

However, Pasadena Heritage has not been satisfied with the seismic studies and is sharing the cost of the Ehrenkrantz Group’s seismic study with Huntington Hotel Associates.

“We believe this is an important contribution to our effort to save the Huntington,” said Claire Bogaard, executive director of the nonprofit agency that identifies and helps to restore historically significant buildings.

Kamages, who heads Ehrenkrantz’ three-person study team, said he cannot predict the results of the study that he said will cost “substantially less than $50,000.”

‘Just Looking for Holes’

“The hotel as it stands and its setting are spectacular,” Kamages said. “The development plan they (the Huntington Hotel Associates) are proposing is outstanding. We’re just looking for any holes in their studies, and to see what are the possibilities” for restoration.

“I would be astounded if they would come up with some other plan,” Mielke said. “Too many people have worked with this property to come up with some kind of miracle now.”

By meeting with interested groups, Mielke said, “we’re simply trying to deal with issues in the community. Living one block from the hotel, I’m well aware of neighborhood concerns.”

Pasadena Vice Mayor William Thomson, whose district includes the hotel, said, “I think one of the major attractions of the proposal is that Lary Mielke lives right there. He understands the community and he appreciates the significance of the Huntington to Pasadena. I think if he’s allowed to proceed, the result would be an outstanding hotel.”

Zoning Change Needed

Zoning was non-existent when the Huntington was built, and a residential area of luxury single-family homes grew up around it. Because the area is now zoned for single-family homes, approval for reconstruction of the new main building must be obtained from the city.

Planning Commission Chairman Rosemary Schroeder declined to predict how the commission will vote in passing its recommendation to the Board of City Directors, the body that must give final approval to the plan.

Even though she would not reveal how she will vote, Schroeder said that “the hotel is an asset to the community. Our convention center has lost business because the city has not been able to provide enough hotel space for some conventions that want to come here.”

William Ingram, who has lived in a five-bedroom hotel cottage for 15 years, said he attended the Planning Commission’s first hearing on the plan last month, and likes the associates’ proposal.

“I think Pasadena needs a beautiful first-class hotel, and these people seem dedicated to that,” Ingram said. “They have to tread lightly in a residential area, and I see them working very carefully.”