Orange County Leading State in Hotel Room Construction

By E. SCOTT RECKARD

July 10, 1999 12 AM PT

Share via
- Email
- Facebook
- X
- LinkedIn
- Threads
- Reddit
- WhatsApp

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The number of hotel rooms planned or under construction in Orange County rose by 27% during the last six months, to 12,271--the most of any county in the state, according to a new industry study.

The figures reflect the approval of new hotels in Anaheim and Garden Grove, cities that expect an influx of new visitors because of expansions of the Anaheim Convention Center and Disneyland that will be completed over the next two years.

Also fueling the boom are new hotels that will serve growing business centers such as the Irvine Spectrum and South Coast Metro areas. They include a 252-room Doubletree that opened last month at the Spectrum and a 301-room Ritz-Carlton, planned to open in late 2001 on Jamboree Road off the San Diego Freeway. In addition, a host of extended-stay and all-suites facilities are planned for emerging business hubs such as Foothill Ranch.

“It’s a strong economy for hotels right now,” said Alan X. Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group in Costa Mesa, which surveyed properties statewide. Reay said financing has become easier to arrange as hotel sales prices have risen.

“Before, you could buy existing properties for below replacement cost,” he said.

Los Angeles and San Diego counties have more hotels in the works--52 and 49 respectively--than Orange County, which has 45. But fewer rooms are planned or being built: 7,580 in Los Angeles County and 11,057 in San Diego County, according to the Atlas survey to be released Tuesday.

Orange County’s numbers are swelled by projects such as Pointe Anaheim, which was approved by the city of Anaheim last month as a $500-million retail and entertainment complex across Harbor Boulevard from Disneyland that includes 1,050 hotel rooms. Another project in the works would erect a 900-room hotel in two 450-room phases a few blocks away at Katella Avenue and West Street.

And Walt Disney Co.’s new luxury hotel, the 750-room Grand Californian, already is under construction as part of the company’s new theme park, California Adventure, which is to open next to Disneyland in 2001.

Hotel experts said that not all the projects that have won city approval will be completed.

“A lot of developers are still in a wait-and-see position,” said Rod. J. Apodaca, vice president at the Sperry Van Ness commercial real estate brokerage in Irvine. He noted that financing has yet to be finalized for such projects as a 744-room Marriott Renaissance in Garden Grove, one of a cluster of hotels in that city just south of the Anaheim construction.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

More Tourists Ahead

Orange County has more hotel rooms planned or under development than anywhere else in California--12,271 in July, compared with 9,615 in February. Four of the 10 biggest projects in the state are in the county:

CITY: Universal City

COUNTY: Los Angeles

PROJECT: Themed hotel

ROOMS: 1,200

DESCRIPTION: Expansion of Universal Studios Hollywood theme park

CITY: San Diego

COUNTY: San Diego

PROJECT: Cambell Landing Hotel

ROOMS: 1,200

DESCRIPTION: 220-slip marina/retail/restaurant for 30-story structure

CITY: Anaheim

COUNTY: Orange