David Bohannon’s plans to build a hotel and office complex near Marsh Road and U.S. 101 have gotten bigger, and he says the new proposal is “a lot better.”
The latest plan calls for a 206-room hotel; an athletic club; and an estimated 694,726 square feet of office space on two sites totaling 15 acres in Bohannon Park.
This is Mr. Bohannon’s second set of plans for a hotel and office complex in the area. In October 2005, he proposed a 125-room hotel and about 514,000 square feet of office space for the same sites.
The Bohannon Development Co. is partnering with Marriott International to build the hotel, and Mr. Bohannon said that if all goes well, the hotel could be up and running by 2009.
The hotel and associated athletic club, one of the office buildings, and a five-story parking garage are planned for 110-190 Independence Drive, in the northern-most portion of Bohannon Park.
The other two office buildings, two smaller parking garages, and a 400-space parking lot are proposed for a site two blocks away at 101-155 Constitution Drive.
Hotel market
Although the Marriott hotel could be one of several new hotels in the area, Mr. Bohannon said there’s plenty of room in the market for more hotels.“We’re aiming to attract the traveling business person,” he said. He estimated the average room would go for $235 a night — less than rates at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto.
“There’s definitely a market for this project,” said Thomas Callahan, CEO of PKF Consulting, who is working with Mr. Bohannon on the project. He noted that the recently approved Rosewood Hotel being built off Sand Hill Road may be a competitor, but the hotels can coexist and still be profitable.
Mr. Bohannon’s hotel would be operated by Marriott, but would be called a “Renaissance Club Sport” hotel, due to the associated athletic club. There is a similar hotel in Walnut Creek.
New vision
Mr. Bohannon said the hotel and office complex is the centerpiece of his “new vision” of what is known to many people as the industrial area of Menlo Park.With the new project, a chunk of buildings built in the 1950s and 1960s to house manufacturing companies and industrial warehouses would be leveled to make way for the project.
He said that combined, the hotel and office will help “rejuvenate” the area by replacing a cluster of often-vacant, dated buildings with a tax-revenue-generating hotel and office space to attract new companies.
“I think my grandfather had a vision for an industrial park here, and that vision has served the community for a long time,” he said. “But I think most of these buildings have really served their purpose and are pretty antiquated and obsolete. … I think we have a proposal that will stimulate change in this location.”
Public comment
Mr. Bohannon said it’s “absolutely vital” that the public has multiple opportunities to learn about, and comment on, the project.He said he wants to avoid the controversy that surrounded the hotly contested Derry project.
“I want this to be as open of a process as possible,” he said. “I don’t just want to hear from the people who support [the project]. I want to hear from the people who don’t like it, and figure out what changes we can make. … In the end, it’s the community that will decide whether this project will happen.”
Mr. Bohannon said he plans to present his project to the City Council sometime in March, and hold a study session six to eight weeks after the initial presentation.
New hotel/office complex
David Bohannon’s new hotel and office complex plans call for a larger, and taller, project than he initially presented to the council in October 2005. The new project includes:• Seven-story, 206-room Marriott hotel (177,000 square feet).
• Athletic club (70,000 square feet) and restaurant attached to the hotel.
• Three eight-story, 126-foot-tall office buildings (total of 694,726 square feet).
• Three five- and four-story parking garages (2,326 parking spaces) plus a 400-space parking lot.
