Plans Approved for 200-Bed Hostel in Santa Monica

American Youth Hostels Inc. has won approval from the Santa Monica Planning Commission for a 200-bed hostel on a downtown site adjoining the city’s oldest building, the Rapp Saloon.

However, opponents of the $3.35-million project, which is planned for 2nd Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard, said they will ask the City Council to overturn the commission’s unanimous vote.

Hostel officials plan to renovate the old saloon and use it as a meeting room and lounge for hostel guests. The old saloon was built in 1875 and was once Santa Monica’s City Hall. It was declared a city landmark in 1975. Construction on the four-story hostel is due to begin this year and may be completed by the spring of 1988.

The facility, like others run by American Youth Hostels, will offer lodgings for $10 a night, said Ken Genser, western regional development coordinator. All customers must be members of American Youth Hostels, which costs $20 a year for adults.

Under the rules, members are not allowed to stay in any of the almost 300 dormitory-style hostels in the United States for more than three nights in a row. And like most facilities, the Santa Monica hostel will be closed during the day.

The hostel plan was approved last year by the California Coastal Commission, which also agreed to give $735,000 to the project from a fund set aside to aid in the construction of low-cost lodgings.

The proposal was passed by the Planning Commission after a four-hour public hearing Monday night that included testimony from about 35 people. Members of the Santa Monica Historical Society oppose the project because they want the Rapp Saloon, which occupies about a quarter of the 15,000-square-foot parcel, for the society’s use.

Louise Gabriel, president of the historical group, said the developers should give the society control of the landmark so it can convert the saloon into a city museum. “We feel this is the highest and best use for the city’s oldest building,” she told the commissioners.

Genser said American Youth Hostels did not want to give away the building or surrender control of the small one-story brick structure.

Although the commission urged American Youth Hostels and Gabriel to find a compromise, Gabriel said Wednesday that “shared use would not be possible. The historical society has so many rare and valuable materials that we would need complete control of the facility to ensure security.”

Some downtown merchants and property owners complained that the developers should supply more than the six parking spaces planned for the site. Merchants also voiced fears that the hostel would become a flophouse for the homeless.

But the majority of the speakers favored the project, including Michael Street, owner of the Pottery Barn in the Santa Monica Place mall. Tourists using the hostel “will spend good money in Santa Monica Place and the rest of the city,” he said.

The commissioners voted for the project after accepting hostel attorney Sherman Stacey’s contention that the city could not require the developers to include more on-site parking spaces. Stacey said hostel members are entitled to use the municipal parking garage across the street from the project because the hostel development is within the downtown parking assessment district.

“No developer on that street is required to supply parking,” Genser said. “We and other property owners are paying into the parking assessment district.”

Genser added that experience at other hostels has shown that only 7% to 25% of hostel users arrive by car. Both Genser and city officials said ample parking is available in the garage during the business hours planned for the hostel, which will be closed between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

And Genser also assured the commission that the hostel would not become a flophouse. “We cater to educational and recreational travelers,” he said. “If we get a bad reputation, we will be in trouble with our clientele.”