Steel Sprouts for Hollywood's Dream Hotel

Six months after starting construction at 6417 Selma Avenue, rebar and steel beams now protrude above ground at the future site of Hollywood's Dream Hotel.  The approximately $50 million project from developer Five Chairs will offer 182 guest rooms, located within easy walking distance of major tourist destinations along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

Designs from Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang Architects call for a 10-story structure, clad with glass and metal sidings.  The mid-rise building will feature several ancillary uses, including a banquet room, rooftop deck, and multiple food and beverage venues.  A vehicular alley way which abuts the hotel site is to be repurposed as patio dining for several of the hotel's restaurants.

The Dream Hollywood - scheduled for completion in late 2015 - is the first of several hospitality projects slated for the blocks located southwest of Hollywood/Vine Station.  Back in July, new hotel proposals emerged on both Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevards.  Earlier this month, plans were filed for a 12-story inn on Wilcox Avenue.  Further down the pipeline, developer R.D. Olson may construct a fifth project on a Sunset Boulevard property currently occupied by a Jack in the Box restaurant.

LA's First Dream Hotel Finally Starts Work

According to a March report from Gray Construction, LA-based developer Five Chairs has broken ground on their long stalled hotel project near the intersection of Selma Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard.  As a few keen observers have noticed, the shabby two-story parking structure which previously stood at 6417 Selma Avenue was quietly demolished earlier this year.  In its place will rise the Dream Hollywood Hotel, containing 182 guest rooms above street level commercial space.  Designed by Santa Monica's Killefer Flammang Architects, the 10-story Dream Hollywood will stand 125 feet tall, similar in height to many nearby historic structures.  The mid-rise building will feature a rooftop restaurant, banquet space, and a two-level parking garage.  An alley way on the eastern side of the project site will be transformed into a "lively outdoor dining and retail street."  The $45 million project will be the first West Coast location for the trendy Dream Hotel chain, a Wyndham brand based out of New York.  Last months' groundbreaking marks the end to six years of arrested development for Five Chairs, which first received approvals for a slightly smaller hotel project at the same location in 2008.  The report from Gray Construction indicates that work on the Dream Hollywood is expected to be complete in September 2015.

Hollywood's Dream Hotel Returns Bigger and Better

The Dream Hollywood.  Image from KFA.

Multiple high-rise projects next to the Capitol Records Building were dealt a setback this week courtesy of the California State Geological Survey, but other Hollywood developments continue to make progress despite persistent NIMBY pushback.  Near the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard and Selma Avenue, plans for Los Angeles' first Dream Hotel are officially back in motion. To make that news even sweeter, Five Chairs Development has asked the city for a series of zoning variances which would allow them to increase the project's size.  Revised plans for the Dream Hollywood call for a 10-story, 182 room hotel, featuring commercial space at street level and a 65-vehicle subterranean parking structure.  Five Chairs would utilize the city's bicycle parking ordinance to substitute expensive on-site automobile parking with less costly bicycle accommodations.  The hotel would also lease parking spaces for guests in an off-site garage.  The Killefer Flammang designed structure was originally approved in 2008 as a 9-story, 120 room project known as Hotel Selma.  Although Five Chairs previously expected the hotel to open in Fall 2013, plans have only recently began working their way through the Department of Building and Safety.  This stretch of Selma Avenue is increasingly busy, with both the Columbia Square development and the Camden Hollywood under construction nearby.  The J.H. Snyder Company also plans a mid-rise office tower at 1601 Vine Street, but groundbreaking is indefinitely stalled due to the bureaucratic mess wrought by the demise of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

• Jan. 13, 2014 Agenda (CHNC)
• Hotel Selma (Killefer Flammang Architects)
• Hollywood Hotel Project Back on Track With New Operator (Los Angeles Times)