Survey Shows County Leads State’s Hotel Room Boom

Orange County leads California in the number of hotel rooms planned or under construction, according to a survey by Atlas Hospitality Group, a Costa Mesa hotel broker.

A total of 9,615 rooms were planned or under construction as of February, 15% higher than six months earlier, according to Atlas President Alan X. Reay. Trailing were San Diego County, with 9,105 rooms; Los Angeles County, 8,408 rooms, and Alameda County, 4,508 rooms.

The building centers on the Anaheim area, where a second Disney theme park and a Convention Center expansion promise to lure millions of visitors in the coming years. But the boom has become so big that concerns are being raised about overbuilding.

The question of whether too many hotels are going up in Orange County is to be discussed this morning at an Urban Land Institute seminar at the Irvine Marriott.

Participants were to include representatives of Stonebridge Cos. and McWhinney Enterprises. The Colorado-based developers are behind the $20-million Homewood Suites hotel complex at Chapman Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, a 167-room project that began construction Tuesday.

Stonebridge and McWhinney also are building two other hotels with a total of 348 rooms near the Harbor/Chapman intersection for $25 million.

McWhinney President Chad McWhinney said he was able to get the projects financed despite an industry-wide credit crunch and a sharp decline in hotel occupancy in the Anaheim area stemming from all the heavy construction.

“The bottom line is it comes down to the project,” McWhinney said. “I think the demand is going to be extremely strong come 2001, when Disney opens” its new park, California Adventure.