700-mile high-speed rail plan zipping along
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Tuesday, April 10, 2007.
PALMDALE - Despite declining support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a questionable financial future, plans for a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco are continuing.
Area residents may have their say on issues they would like to see studied in the environmental impact report for the rail line between Los Angeles and Palmdale during a public scoping meeting on the project Thursday.
Twin meetings will run from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Palmdale City Council Chambers, 38300 Sierra Highway, in the Palmdale Civic Center.
Studies on the Los Angeles-to-Palmdale segment and on other segments of the 700-mile-long route will include preliminary engineering designs and assessments of the environmental effects of construction, maintenance and operation of the proposed rail line.
An environmental impact report and study were completed for the entire route in 2005 as the first phase of environmental review for the project. The route between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, with a stop in Palmdale, was selected during this process after much debate.
Project-level environmental studies of the individual rail line segments are the second phase of the review process.
The proposed Antelope Valley alignment roughly would follow Highway 58 from Bakersfield to Mojave, then would run south along the Union Pacific railroad tracks through Lancaster, Palmdale and Soledad Canyon. A map released by high-speed rail officials indicted they are studying the area around Soledad Canyon for alternate routes. Copies of the notices of preparation and notices of intent regarding the state high-speed rail's Palmdale-Los Angeles route environmental study may be viewed online at www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.
For those unable to attend the scoping meeting in person, comments may be sent to Dan Leavitt, deputy director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, Los Angeles-Palmdale Segment, 925 L St., Suite 1425, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Comments also may be sent via e-mail to comments@hsr.ca.gov, with the subject line of "Palmdale-Los Angeles."
Public comment will be accepted until April 27.
For more details, call (877) 724-5422.
This preliminary process continues as funding support for the ambitious statewide project dwindles.
The California High Speed Rail Authority was created in 1996 to direct efforts to establish a rail line that could whisk riders between Northern and Southern California in a matter of just more than two hours.
Legislation passed last year requires a $10 billion bond measure to fund the rail line to go before voters in November 2008. However, the governor since has dropped his support for the bond, which already was moved back two years to accommodate his own transportation bond measure in November 2006.
Legislation would be required to take the bond measure from the 2008 ballot.
The state's high-speed rail authority will continue to receive funding, however, to further develop the plan so it can progress if other funding is found.
Several plans also have been discussed relating to a regional high-speed rail system, including a joint-powers authority of more than a dozen cities - including Palmdale - called the Orangeline Development Authority. The Orangeline plan calls for a 100-mile route from Orange County to Palmdale using magnetic levitation technology.
The record-setting 357-mph run of France's high-speed rail last week also may reinvigorate some interest and support for the California project.
A delegation of state lawmakers was on hand for the record run during a visit to examine France's system.
By ALLISON GATLIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
agatlin@avpress.com
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Developer to build seven-story Embassy Suites hotel in Valley
Developer to build seven-story Embassy Suites hotel in Valley
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Friday, March 16, 2007.
PALMDALE - An Indianapolis-based hotel developer is planning to erect a seven-story, 150-room Embassy Suites just west of the Antelope Valley Freeway, possibly in conjunction with a city-operated conference center.
Bharat Patel, co-founder of Sun Development & Management Corp., said he selected Palmdale for his company’s first Southern California hotel project because of the Antelope Valley’s need for such a facility.
“If you look at the Palmdale-Lancaster area, you see only one full-service (hotel) that is maybe 20 or 30 years old, and it doesn’t fill the need that exists today,” Patel said. “If you look at … what is predicted for five years from today or seven years from today, you need a full-service hotel that would be part of the economic infrastructure,” he said.
Planned on Avenue P-4 between Fifth Street West and Trade Center Drive, south of the Mulligan Family Fun Center, the hotel would serve business travelers during the week and vacationing families on weekends, Patel said.
At seven stories, the all-suites hotel would be the tallest building in the Antelope Valley. It is proposed to contain a restaurant, a lounge, a coffee bar, a computer connection room, an exercise room, a pool and spa among its many amenities, said Danny Roberts, Palmdale’s assistant executive director of redevelopment.
Although construction of the hotel presents the city with an opportunity to develop a conference center, there has been no formal commitment for such a project, Roberts said.
If the City Council makes such a commitment in the next several months, things could change, Roberts said.
If built by the city, the conference center would need a full-service hotel nearby, but the hotel would not necessarily need the conference center to be successful, Roberts said.
To encourage city officials to build an adjoining conference center, Roberts said, Patel had his architect draw a picture of a matching hotel and conference center connected by a covered walkway and sharing a parking lot and tree-lined entry.
The site for the project was chosen in part because of its visibility from the freeway, said Gene Fong, the architect for the development.
The hotel and conference center were planned to complement each other and enhance access for motorists and pedestrians, Fong said.
A roundabout with a water fountain was included as a central feature for the entryway, regardless of what is built next door to the hotel, he said.
Patel, as the developer, “is committed to this site. A full-service hotel is going in,” regardless of the plans for the conference center, Fong said.
“If the conference center comes in, it will be a great neighbor. If not, another product can go in,” he said.
The design of the hotel can be changed to add meeting rooms for business purposes if the conference center idea does not move forward, Fong noted.
As presented, the hotel would encompass between 140,000 and 150,000 square feet of floor space and cost between $15 million and $20 million to build, Patel said.
On hand to lend support for the announcement was Brian Kennedy, vice president of S&Y Capital Group of Los Angeles.
To move ahead, Patel must acquire ownership of the land for the hotel - approximately 12.5 acres - from S&Y Capital Group.
To build the conference center, Palmdale’s Community Redevelopment Agency would have to acquire a similar-sized parcel from S&Y Capital, which owns the land under a number of projects planned in the Trade and Commerce Center.
Although the land for the hotel is included in a specific plan approved years ago for the Trade and Commerce Center, Patel still would need a conditional use permit from the city’s Planning Commission to construct a building that exceeds 45 feet in height.
Speedy land acquisition and planning approvals are “very critical” because of wanting to build before the market demand changes, Patel said.
Once the land is acquired and the project approved, it would take 12 to 15 months to open for business, he said.
“We don’t know what the future will hold a year from now or three years from now” in the hotel industry, Patel said.
“Our intent is to start (construction) sometime this fall,” he said.
Roberts said the project should move ahead “fairly quickly,” and once it does, it should spur additional development in the Trade and Commerce Center.
Since 1989, Sun Development has purchased or built more than 30 hotels in 13 states, including Hilton Gardens Inns, Hampton Inns, Staybridge Suites and Courtyards by Marriott.
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Friday, March 16, 2007.
PALMDALE - An Indianapolis-based hotel developer is planning to erect a seven-story, 150-room Embassy Suites just west of the Antelope Valley Freeway, possibly in conjunction with a city-operated conference center.
Bharat Patel, co-founder of Sun Development & Management Corp., said he selected Palmdale for his company’s first Southern California hotel project because of the Antelope Valley’s need for such a facility.
“If you look at the Palmdale-Lancaster area, you see only one full-service (hotel) that is maybe 20 or 30 years old, and it doesn’t fill the need that exists today,” Patel said. “If you look at … what is predicted for five years from today or seven years from today, you need a full-service hotel that would be part of the economic infrastructure,” he said.
Planned on Avenue P-4 between Fifth Street West and Trade Center Drive, south of the Mulligan Family Fun Center, the hotel would serve business travelers during the week and vacationing families on weekends, Patel said.
At seven stories, the all-suites hotel would be the tallest building in the Antelope Valley. It is proposed to contain a restaurant, a lounge, a coffee bar, a computer connection room, an exercise room, a pool and spa among its many amenities, said Danny Roberts, Palmdale’s assistant executive director of redevelopment.
Although construction of the hotel presents the city with an opportunity to develop a conference center, there has been no formal commitment for such a project, Roberts said.
If the City Council makes such a commitment in the next several months, things could change, Roberts said.
If built by the city, the conference center would need a full-service hotel nearby, but the hotel would not necessarily need the conference center to be successful, Roberts said.
To encourage city officials to build an adjoining conference center, Roberts said, Patel had his architect draw a picture of a matching hotel and conference center connected by a covered walkway and sharing a parking lot and tree-lined entry.
The site for the project was chosen in part because of its visibility from the freeway, said Gene Fong, the architect for the development.
The hotel and conference center were planned to complement each other and enhance access for motorists and pedestrians, Fong said.
A roundabout with a water fountain was included as a central feature for the entryway, regardless of what is built next door to the hotel, he said.
Patel, as the developer, “is committed to this site. A full-service hotel is going in,” regardless of the plans for the conference center, Fong said.
“If the conference center comes in, it will be a great neighbor. If not, another product can go in,” he said.
The design of the hotel can be changed to add meeting rooms for business purposes if the conference center idea does not move forward, Fong noted.
As presented, the hotel would encompass between 140,000 and 150,000 square feet of floor space and cost between $15 million and $20 million to build, Patel said.
On hand to lend support for the announcement was Brian Kennedy, vice president of S&Y Capital Group of Los Angeles.
To move ahead, Patel must acquire ownership of the land for the hotel - approximately 12.5 acres - from S&Y Capital Group.
To build the conference center, Palmdale’s Community Redevelopment Agency would have to acquire a similar-sized parcel from S&Y Capital, which owns the land under a number of projects planned in the Trade and Commerce Center.
Although the land for the hotel is included in a specific plan approved years ago for the Trade and Commerce Center, Patel still would need a conditional use permit from the city’s Planning Commission to construct a building that exceeds 45 feet in height.
Speedy land acquisition and planning approvals are “very critical” because of wanting to build before the market demand changes, Patel said.
Once the land is acquired and the project approved, it would take 12 to 15 months to open for business, he said.
“We don’t know what the future will hold a year from now or three years from now” in the hotel industry, Patel said.
“Our intent is to start (construction) sometime this fall,” he said.
Roberts said the project should move ahead “fairly quickly,” and once it does, it should spur additional development in the Trade and Commerce Center.
Since 1989, Sun Development has purchased or built more than 30 hotels in 13 states, including Hilton Gardens Inns, Hampton Inns, Staybridge Suites and Courtyards by Marriott.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)