ACTION ALERT: Massive New Hotel Project Proposed For Abbot Kinney Blvd!

Here we go again folks.

Six years after the community and the LA City Planning Commission turned back the developers of the Ray Hotel project, a 57-room luxury hotel proposed for the corner of Abbot Kinney and Brooks Ave., movie producer Dan Abrams and a consortium of yet-to-be-named investors are proposing an even bigger hotel project for Abbot Kinney - this one a 92-room mega-development that includes a 100-seat restaurant and luxury day spa and would stretch an entire city block between Broadway and Westminster.

Like the Ray Hotel's developers before them, Abrams and his group are asking for precedent-setting exemptions to the Venice Specific Plan for mass, scale, and height. Claiming the site presents a "hardship" (to their profits?), among other things, the developers are asking to build up to 43 feet (the VSP calls for 35 feet) and add a precedent-breaking 4th story.

Worse is the parking and traffic situation. We've yet to see any published traffic studies for the Abrams hotel, but in 2007 DOT estimated the Ray Hotel would generate 757 net new car trips a day.

The Abrams hotel as proposed is nearly twice the size as the Ray Hotel. You do the math.

And like the Ray Hotel before them, these developers aren't providing adequate parking to accommodate their hotel, restaurant, spa guests and employees, claiming they don't need to because the hotel will be bike friendly and will encourage guests to use public transportation (they do know the closest rail stop is in Culver City, right?).

In short, this hotel will be a disaster for our community. Here's why:

Proposed site of the Abrams hotel

First of all, it doesn't exist in a vacuum. If allowed to go through as proposed, the project will break precedent that other developers will be quick to exploit. A Beverly Hills developer recently purchased the property on Abbott Kinney that includes Hal's and Just Tantau for $20 million and Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the early planning stages to develop his corner property at Main and Abbot Kinney. Already we've heard reports he is asking to grandfather in 40 non-existent parking spaces.

Secondly, the traffic generated by Abrams' hotel will create permanent gridlock on Abbot Kinney, Broadway and Electric as cars, taxis, trash trucks and delivery vehicles cue up to service the hotel and deposit its guests. If you live anywhere near the hotel you can forget about parking in front of your home as inadequate parking forces hotel patrons and employees to hunt for street parking in our neighborhoods.

So folks, if you don't want this to happen, now is the time to step up and make your voice heard. 


WRITE TO THE VNC LAND USE AND PLANNING COMMITTEE AND OUR COUNCIL OFFICE
Send an email to the following people. Tell them you're opposed to the project as planned, and that at a minimum it must conform to the Venice Specific Plan and provide adequate parking for the site's use.

The project's address is 1033 S Abbott Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291: It must be included at the top of any correspondence.

Venice Neighborhood Council Land Use and Planning Committee: lupc@venicenc.org
LA City Councilman Mike Bonin - mike.bonin@lacity.org
CD11 Planning Director Tricia Keane -  tricia.keane@lacity.org
Venice For Change Organizer Marta Evry - veniceforchange@gmail.com


ATTEND THE NEXT VNC LAND USE AND PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

WHEN: October 2   6:45 pm-9:00 pm
WHERE: Oakwood Rec Center - 767 7th Avenue (corner of 7th and Oakwood)

The hotel is scheduled to come up for a vote at this meeting. Please attend and make your voice heard!