Coastal Panel Approves Plans for 6-Story Hotel
The state Coastal Commission has approved plans for a six-story, 175-room beachfront hotel proposed by Maguire Thomas Partners.
Construction of the hotel--to be built on the site of the 91-room Kensington Motel next to the recently opened Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on Ocean Avenue--is expected to begin in April and to be completed in 18 months.
The commission imposed a $728,000 fee to pay for replacement of modest-cost lodging lost by the demolition of the Kensington.
By starting construction this spring, Maguire Thomas escapes the potential effect of an initiative on the November ballot that could ban the project and other new beachfront hotels.
Maguire Thomas and restaurateur Michael McCarty, who is proposing a luxury hotel on the site of the private Sand and Sea Club on Pacific Coast Highway, each contributed $100,000 for a competing initiative also on the November ballot.
It also bans beachfront hotels but exempts the two projects.
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