Is it finally time for the city to stake out a plan for its long-sought hotel near Shoreline Park, or should the valuable Charleston East property (19 acres) be developed into playing fields for youth and adult sports?
That’s the question the city council will have to answer over the next few months as members discuss a plan unveiled last week to build a 200-room hotel and conference center on the site, and leave the remaining half for research and development space that could be leased to Google, whose main Mountain View campus is across the street.
The hotel idea, long a priority for the council, came close to fruition more than four years ago, but collapsed during the dot-com meltdown. Besides the Charleston East site, the council has made efforts to conjure up a hotel inside Shoreline Park and at the old Emporium location at Highway 85 and El Camino Real, which is now the future home of Camino Medical Group.
The idea advanced by city staff members last week would require the investment of up to $16 million in city funds, but is projected to bring in $4 million annually, based on rent from the R&D property and income from the hotel. The city may encounter other costs, but overall, the initial financial projections look very good.
The city council reacted positively last week, except for Greg Perry, who castigated members for thinking of business development instead of building sports playing fields or parks, which are in short supply in the city.
No vote was taken on the matter, but in our view, the hotel/R&D proposal is a timely idea whose time just might have come. There is no doubt that the city could use a good hotel in the Bayshore area, which should gain business from all the industrial tenants there, including Google, one of the high-tech industry’s brightest stars.
Certainly the council will need to double- and triple-check the project’s financial plans before jumping on the Charleston East bandwagon. But this is a site that has long been held back from other development, specifically in the hopes that a hotel project might come forward some day.
The idea that sports fields would be the best use of this site doesn’t make sense to us. This area is home to most of the city’s high-tech companies. If there is interest in R&D space it may be possible to pre-lease a good portion of this development project to Google or other firms before it is built. This would reduce the risk and make the project even more viable. Acquiring more playing fields needs to be kept high on the city’s agenda, and we support Council member Greg Perry’s call to set aside parkland fees or other funds for land acquisition. The Charleston East site is simply not the right place.
