More than 30 years after the idea for the Beachfront Lodge and Conference Center was hatched, Grover Beach has taken a major step toward making the facility a reality.

On a 4-0 vote Monday night, with member Steve Lieberman absent, the city's Redevelopment Agency board approved a notice of intent to award a contract for the hotel's development to Pacifica Hosts Inc. of San Diego.

If contract negotiations go as smoothly as city and developer representatives believe they will, the “environmentally responsible” hotel and conference center could be open for business three years after the contract is signed.

“Realistically, we don't expect contract negotiations to take a great deal of time,” said City Manager Bob Perrault, noting that the proposal made by Pacifica Hosts will be the primary basis for the contract.

Before negotiations can begin, however, the intent to award a contract must be approved by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the city's partner in a joint powers agreement to develop and operate the facility.

The $20.6 million, 135-room hotel is expected to generate $416,667 in transient occupancy taxes the first year of operation, rising to $490,040 by the fifth year.

In addition, Pacifica Hosts will pay a rental fee of $240,000 plus 6 percent of the annual gross revenues for the site.

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Because the hotel will be built on State Parks Department land, that agency will receive a share of the transient occupancy taxes and rent.

At the end of the 50-year lease period, the facility will revert to the state unless a new concessionaire contract is negotiated.

“This is the project we've all been waiting for,” said John Koepf, developer of the mixed-use Beach Place project on West Grand at Third Street. “As far back as I can remember, we've been talking about the Beachfront Lodge.

“We have probably one of the best natural environments that's undeveloped in Southern California,” he told the Redevelopment Agency. “You just don't find seven acres on the beach. I urge you to vote for this intent to award the contract.”

The decision at a special meeting Monday night elated many people in the audience.

“I'm feeling pretty good tonight,” former Mayor Peter Keith said with a broad smile following the vote.

“This is a huge step, a profoundly huge step,” said Keith, who served on a 12-member committee that included the hotel and conference center in the city's Local Coastal Plan when it was crafted in 1977.

The project's design

Pacifica Host's initial design - recommended for approval by an awards committee that found virtually all aspects met or exceeded the request for proposals guidelines - will not be the project that's ultimately built, however.

Company representatives told the Redevelopment Agency that a site visit by the company's owner, the discovery that the project could be four stories tall, rather than three, and recommendations from the awards committee will result in a major redesign.

The original design for the 110,000-square-foot facility called for three relatively uniform three-story structures in a mission style of architecture.

The 22,000-square-foot central building would contain a lobby and a 4,000-square-foot conference center with a dining facility that would serve continental breakfasts to guests and dinners only in conjunction with banquets.

But Allison Rolfe, director of planning, Pacifica Host's parent company, said once Pacifica's owner saw the site, he decided to do something “more creative, more unique, more in keeping with the local environment, particularly the dunes.”

Rolfe said the style will be changed to be more like those of Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos or the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Monterey.

To maximize views, at least one building will likely be four stories tall, with a high-end, full-service restaurant on the third or fourth floor and an elevated pool, while other buildings will be lower, she said.

Responding to Redevelopment Agency member Bill Nicolls' concern that the conference center would be too small, Bill Feenan, director of operations for Pacifica Host Hotels, said the ability to go to four stories will allow a larger conference area.

“It would definitely behoove us to have more space, more flexible space,” Feenan said.

Rolfe said the company is also contemplating meandering trails that will connect to the boardwalk in the dunes, and the company is also considering a shuttle service to the train station and airport.

She noted the hotel will be designed to a silver or higher level under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.

Rolfe said priorities will include using local and natural materials, low-flush toilets and low-flow fixtures, native plants, solar collection panels and high-efficiency appliances.

A public education and nature interpretive program is part of the company's plan.

Agency member Chuck Ashton asked whether the hotel will provide jobs for locals or if Pacifica Hosts will bring in employees from outside the area.

“If we brought in any from outside the area, it might be as many as two,” Feenan said. “I want a desk clerk who knows the restaurants, who knows the city.”

The hotel will employ 50 to 70 people. Part-time employees will work during banquets.

Associate editor Mike Hodgson can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2221 or mhodgson@santamaria times.com.

April 3, 2008