New Laguna Niguel Hotel Plans Called Boon to Area

Plans for a major luxury hotel near the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel could turn the Monarch Beach area into a “destination resort” competitive with Hawaii, Palm Springs and Scottsdale, Ariz., a chief analyst with the national accounting firm Laventhal and Horwath said Saturday.

Honolulu developer Christopher B. Hemmeter and the Stein-Brief Group, developers of Monarch Beach, soon will announce plans for the 1,100-room, $250-million hotel, to be completed within five years, according to a source close to the project.

An official from Stein-Brief declined to comment Saturday. Officials from the Hemmeter Corp. could not be reached.

If completed, the new hotel will continue a trend of pricey new resorts along the county’s southern coast. Earlier this month, Southmark Pacific Corp. announced that the Dana Point Royce Resort Hotel--a 350-room, $50-million project now under construction in Dana Point--was being taken over by members of the Slatkin family of Beverly Hills, former operators of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Thomas Slatkin said at the time that the new hotel, with rooms priced from $140 to $900 a night, would be characterized by “casual elegance.”

The plan actually may include two hotels, a larger Hyatt-Regency or Hilton type and a smaller, more exclusive hotel nearby.