Calabasas to Hotel Developer: Build Smaller

A proposed hotel’s four-story design has been informally rejected by the Calabasas City Council, according to media reports. Council officials asked Malibu developer Richard Weintraub, who proposed the $30 million project, to reduce the hotel’s height to three stories. That came despite the city’s planning commission February vote that the council should approve the project. The city limits new building heights to 35 feet, and Weintraub sought approval to go higher. What was to be a 127-room, 73,000-square-feet Marriott brand hotel called the Rondell Oasis on Las Virgenes Road just south of the 101 Freeway, has an uncertain future going forward. Weintraub reportedly said the hotel brand wasn’t interested in a three-story building. He didn’t respond to calls for comment in time for publication. The Calabasas Coalition, a residents’ group, opposed the proposed hotel and another hotel planned for the city, citing overdevelopment. The issue could be heard again next month, depending on what Weintraub decides to do. The city prefers hotels to be built in Calabasas to office or retail space because hotels generate less traffic and pay more in taxes. The city could reap $626,000 annually from the Marriott, should it be built as proposed, according to the city’s estimate, compared to a same-size medical office building, which would pay about $5,000. Nearby, a separate, four-story hotel, as part of a larger development, is proposed for Agoura and Las Virgenes roads by Aliso Viejo homebuilder New Home Co.