Stanford University’s plans to build a 120-room luxury hotel and 100,000 square feet of office space at a Menlo Park site received a boost of support from the city’s Planning Commission.
The commission voted 6-0 at its May 22 meeting to recommend the City Council approve the project, planned for a 21-acre site near the intersection of I-280 and Sand Hill Road.
The council is scheduled to consider the project June 13.
Stanford is teaming up with Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels and Resorts to propose the hotel, five extended-stay villas, a restaurant, a health spa and four office buildings on the site. The proposed hotel is 165,000 square feet.
“I’m enthusiastic for what [the complex] will do for the west end of the city,” said Commissioner Henry Riggs after the meeting. “It’s going to be a benefit to the west-side users — venture capitalism and think-tank oriented groups.”
Commission Chairman Harry Bims said the architecture and design of the complex is “aesthetically pleasing,” and the plans are superior to a hotel planned for the same site by Westin Hotels and Resorts in the late 1980s.
If approved by the council, the hotel would generate $1.3 million for the city when it opens in 2008 and $1.9 million by 2011, according to a financial study. The bulk of those revenues would come from the city’s hotel tax.
Although the hotel would add funds to the city’s coffers, some people, including Portola Valley Town Planner George Mader, have voiced concern about the extra traffic the complex would draw.
Mr. Bims and Mr. Riggs said they kept traffic in mind when considering the proposal, and noted the addition of a right-turn lane from northbound I-280 to eastbound Sand Hill Road will help relieve traffic.
The commission also recommended the city implement adaptive signal timing along Sand Hill Road to reduce congestion. The project would cost about $1.3 million.
About $432,000 of the project could be funded by the traffic impact fee Stanford must pay to build its proposed project, and the balance could be covered by revenue from the hotel tax, according to the commission.
Commissioner John O’Malley was absent from the commission’s meeting.
