Hermosa Beach’s Sea Sprite Motel, one of the few examples of affordable beachside lodging remaining in Southern California, is under new management, but has not been sold and remains in the hands of the Greenwald family, its longtime owners.
“It’s still our property,” Hermosa resident Darrell Greenwald said Friday.
The practical effect of the change in management is not yet clear. Vista Investments took over management of the property on Oct. 1, Greenwald said. Vista, an El Segundo-based hotel company, is managing the Sea Sprite on behalf of a third party to whom the property has been leased.
Greenwald said he signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the lease, and could not say to whom the property had been leased or what the terms were, including the duration, the amount of money involved, or whether an option to buy the property was part of the deal.
Vista Investments did not return multiple messages seeking comment. On its website, Vista describes itself as a “vertically integrated” hotel company: “owners, operators, designers and developers of hotels.” Along with its El Segundo headquarters, it also has an office in Madrid. The company operates several Vagabond Inns and Best Westerns throughout California, as well as the Sea Blue Hotel in Santa Monica and a Hampton Inn in Glendale.
Visitors to the Sea Sprite’s web site are told that a new home page is coming soon, but there is no mention of other changes. Greenwald said that the company planned to invest money in various upgrades that would “bring the Sea Sprite up to date,” but that there were no current plans to dramatically alter the property. He said he was prohibited from revealing whether the lease agreement gave the anonymous lessee the right to go beyond cosmetic changes.
Greenwald also could not say whether the new management intended to make any changes to pricing. Many residents have expressed concern that the Sea Sprite might shed its affordable reputation, matching a trend that has been repeating itself up and down the state.
The California Coastal Act has long required lower-cost lodging and recreational facilities to be “protected, encouraged and, where feasible, provided.” But as the cost of land in Hermosa and elsewhere has soared in recent years, this goal has been harder to achieve. In 2015, as he sought building permits for his H20 Hotel, currently under construction on Hermosa Avenue, developer Raju Chhabria raised eyebrows when he announced that the nicest of the hotel’s 30 rooms could go for as much as $850 per night.
A recent study from the California Coastal Commission found that, over the last 30 years, the state has lost more 25,000 budget rooms. “The economics of the state’s current coastal lodging market favor buyouts of historic lower-cost hotels and motels, market consolidation, and development of high-end properties that are out of reach for working families and individuals, especially those who travel from inland communities,” according to a 2017 state Assembly report. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 250, which empowered the State Coastal Conservancy to develop a plan to develop new low-cost lodgings within 1.5 miles of the coast, as well as to “facilitate the protection of existing” ones.
Amid the turnover on the coast, the Sea Sprite has long been a target. Rumors that the property had been sold began circulating Labor Day weekend, which Greenwald family members denied when asked about by Easy Reader. Sea Sprite’s Facebook page announced the new management last month. Many of those who first responded to the announcement had stayed at the Sea Sprite while visiting from out of town. But the news eventually migrated to local social media accounts, which stated, incorrectly, that the motel had been sold or was in escrow.
Greenwald said his family has been constantly fielding offers over the past decade. Asked why he finally decided to lease the property now, Greenwald said, “I’m tired. I’m 70 years old. I didn’t want to do the work anymore.”
