Legado’s Palos Verdes Inn plans approved
Renderings of Legado’s plans for the former Palos Verdes Inn. Plans were approved by the Redondo Beach City Council on Tuesday. Image courtesy City of Redondo Beach.
The first step in the Legado Companies’ plan to redevelop a storied block of South Redondo was approved by the Redondo Beach City Council Tuesday night.
The plans include upgrading the former Palos Verdes Inn to the level of a “three-plus or four-plus star hotel,” Legado CEO Edward Czuker told the council.
A rooftop deck would move the existing ground-level pool to an overlook above Pacific Coast Highway.
Legado’s redevelopment project, which has been under consideration by Redondo Beach authorities for more than four years, has been a source of consternation for citizens of Redondo and Torrance’s Hollywood Riviera.
The project includes two major phases: renovation of the Palos Verdes Inn, which has been closed since a 2015 fire, and redevelopment of the former Bristol Farms grocery store into a commercial and residential mixed-use project, with 115 apartment units and 21,539 square feet of commercial space.
The original plan called for 180 residential units and 36,000 square feet of retail. Its size, along with resident perception that Legado had done a slapdash job of local outreach, led to Council’s denial of the project. That was followed by a lawsuit, and last year, a settlement agreement between the City and the developer. The settlement required, in part, that the City Council take an action on the project by June 30.
Like many of his council colleagues, Councilman Nils Nehrenheim stated dissatisfaction with the plans parking. The plans called for 92 total spaces: 60 on the hotel site, and 32 in the adjacent mixed-use project’s parking garage. Parking on the hotel site would be entirely by valet, according to Czuker, allowing for three-deep parking.
Nehrenheim likened the project to the waterfront-area Shade Redondo hotel in design and potential scope, noting that Shade’s parking lots are frequently packed, and often take advantage of overflow parking areas.
Nehrenheim wanted at least 110 parking spaces for the project, which he believed was “rushed, to begin with.” He was concerned that hotel guests would park on nearby residential streets. Residents expressed concern about the roof deck uses, including the pool.
“The pool deck seems to be an incredible increase in intensity of use. Shade Manhattan Beach battled with residents over noise, and I’d like to avoid that if we can,” resident Eugene Solomon said.
Residents Jeff and Jane Abrams, who live a block away from the planned development, were also concerned about the roof deck and noise. Jane noted that she and her neighbors had dealt with noise violations from the hotel’s previous occupants.
Initially, council members were interested in restricting portions of roof access and requiring a sound mitigation wall, which would have cut the proposed deck by about half. Czucker offered to leave the pool at its current location by the property line adjacent to residents on Avenue G, but that suggestion was rejected by the Council.
At 11:45 p.m., the City Council unanimously approved a plan that included 110 parking spots, a sound study, and closure of the rooftop deck by 10 p.m. each night.