El Monte : 2 Hotel Proposals Weighed

The city staff is studying proposals by two developers to build a 200-room hotel on Santa Anita Avenue near the San Bernardino Freeway.

The City Council, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, will decide early next year between projects proposed by Cambridge Consolidated of Rosemead and GEMS, a Torrance development firm, said Len Therrien, the city’s assistant administrative officer.

The developers are seeking a national hotel chain to open a franchise in El Monte, Therrien said. The $19.5-million hotel would have banquet and convention facilities and would be geared to business travelers.

“It’s not a resort hotel,” Therrien said. “It’s not a four-star hotel.”

The Los Angeles Raiders’ proposed move to Irwindale would be a boon to the hotel and to El Monte’s tax revenues, Therrien said, but the hotel project would not be dependent on the move.

“We had been involved in this process long before that deal was made public, though we’ll benefit a great deal from (the team coming to Irwindale),” he said.

The hotel could open as early as December, 1989, Therrien said.