FULLERTON : City to Award Hotel Renovation Contract

The City Council will decide tonight whether to award a builder of low-income housing the contract to renovate the Allen Hotel, a dilapidated historic building that city officials have been trying to renovate for years.

In September, a special city panel voted 3 to 2 to select Jose Zepeda of Anaheim Hills, a grocer and developer, to remodel and expand the structure. Panel members said they picked Zepeda partly because he has undertaken similar renovation projects in Placentia, Maywood and Los Angeles.

Zepeda wants to convert the building’s ground floor into a grocery and meat market and the upper levels into seven low-income apartments. He also plans to expand the structure by building eight additional units on a vacant parcel immediately to the north.

Another developer, Robert B. Gilbert Jr., submitted a proposal that would convert the building into 72 low-income, single-room units. He also proposed adding a third and fourth story on the north and east sides of the hotel. Council members have the option of choosing Gilbert’s proposal instead of Zepeda’s.

The hotel, just south of the Santa Fe railway on Harbor Boulevard, was built in 1924 to serve transients and railway workers. By the 1980s, the site had fallen into disrepair and was regarded as a flophouse.

Nearby merchants have expressed concern that Zepeda’s market could soften business at other groceries that exist within several blocks.

In addition, a preservation group, Fullerton Heritage, opposes the plan to expand the building because it would eliminate a grassy, tree-shaded vacant lot adjacent to the hotel that serves as a small park for some neighborhood residents.

But city officials say the design of the expansion will preserve the lot’s appearance with a meandering sidewalk and extensive landscaping.

Zepeda will need $68,500 in seismic and rehabilitation loans; a $120,000 one-time rental subsidy; $50,000 for utility relocation and upgraded curbs, gutters and fire hydrants, and $175,000 for acquiring an adjacent home and relocating its tenants to make room for additional parking.