Council approves more rooms for hotel

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The City Council voted Monday to allow a builder to add

an additional 100 rooms to a planned South Coast Metro Center hotel.

The council originally approved Metro Center’s proposal for a 200-room

hotel for the Anton Boulevard site, which it will share with the

corporate headquarters of Experian, an international market research

firm.

But Phillip R. Schwartze from the P.R.S. Group, a real estate

consulting firm representing South Coast Metro Center, said three

internationally renowned hoteliers showed interest in opening a larger

hotel there.

Metro Center’s plans now call for a 12-story, 201,000-square-foot,

300-room hotel. Schwartze, who said he is still negotiating with the

three hoteliers, refused to name which companies were interested in the

location.

He said they were competing heavily for the site.

“They all saw the type of visitors Experian would draw to the area,”

Schwartze said after the meeting. “These guests are going to be

well-heeled -- not the kind who stay at Motel 6.”

City Councilwoman Linda Dixon said she thought an upscale hotel would

complement the burgeoning South Coast Metro neighborhood.

“It’s becoming more and more of a sophisticated cosmopolitan area,”

she said. “We have a combination of restaurants, residences, theater and

performing arts.”

C.J. Segerstrom and Sons recently submitted to the city a proposal

calling for a 2,500-seat symphony hall, a 140,000-square-foot art museum,

and a 140-seat expansion to the South Coast Repertory Theater there. The

public will have an opportunity to respond to Segerstrom’s plans at

Monday’s Planning Commission meeting.

Since City Councilwoman Libby Cowan was absent at Monday’s meeting,

the council delayed voting on whether a 69-home housing tract would fit

in its planned Mesa Verde site.

The council also delayed a vote to limit the number of paved trails in

Fairview Park.

Both issues are scheduled to be addressed at an Aug. 21 City Council

meeting.