Brea : 10-Story Hotel at Mall Gets Planners’ Approval

A 10-story “high quality” hotel will be built on two acres of the Brea Mall parking lot under city action taken this week.

Construction of the 200-room Brea Mall Hotel, part of the Holiday Inn chain, will begin next January, Brea spokeswoman Bonnie Dwyer said Thursday. The project, in the planning for the past four years, is to be completed by June, 1987.

The hotel will have a restaurant, special guest rooms for women executives, valet parking and a 7,800-square-foot nightclub with a large dance floor, Dwyer said.

Planning Commission members approved the proposal Tuesday night by a 4-1 vote. Commission member Raymond Wolfert voted against the plan, saying the hotel would eliminate 170 parking spaces. The hotel will have a parking garage with 300 spaces, Dwyer said.

Planned for the section of the parking lot between the Civic Cultural Center and the mall, the $14-million structure will be built and operated by Brea Inn Associates, a partnership between McFaddin Ventures of Houston and Stan Gribble & Associates, Newport Beach.

The Brea Foundation, the quasi-public agency that owns the property, gave the developer a 49-year lease at $140,000 a year. The foundation and the city’s Redevelopment Agency also will receive 3% from room rentals and 1% from food and beverage sales, Dwyer said.