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Published on 02/22/1999 All articles from this issue

A Marriott's may replace Four Seasons Motel

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

A group called the Four Seasons Associates has submitted plans to the city of Los Altos to tear down the Four Seasons Motel and build a Marriott Courtyard motel on the site.

Four Season Associates include "approximately" the same people as the Tree Farm Associates, including Los Altos developers John Challas and Oliver Linn, Challas said.

Preliminary plans for the Four Seasons project, filed with the city on Jan. 22, show 200 units on 2.17 acres along El Camino Real at Los Altos Avenue. The drawings include a three-story hotel wing along El Camino with a circular courtyard entrance on Los Altos Avenue.

Parking would be underground.

The project may include six below-market-rate one-bedroom units for seniors toward the back of the property, according to one version of the drawings.

City officials said they are not sure of the ownership of the project. Linn signed the application, as a Four Seasons Associate, in the space designated "property owner's signature."

The Four Seasons Associates have met with city staff about the project, officials said. On Feb. 2, the city staff 16-member development review committee considered the preliminary plans. The committee includes people from the planning, police, traffic and recreation departments, according to a city agenda for the meeting.

"There's been no staff opinion yet on the project," said David Kornfield, with the Los Altos Planning Department. "We are in discussion with the applicant."

On Feb. 17, the Four Seasons Associates hosted a meeting at the city's Hillview Community Center for neighbors of the project.

In the invitation to 105 neighbors, Ronald Johnson, a member and principal of the Four Seasons Associates, offered "assistance with transportation." He also said he would meet privately with any who could not attend the meeting.

Four residents called for more information, Challas said. There has been "not one unfavorable comment about removing the Four Seasons," Challas said.

Police reports show repeated calls to the Four Seasons for incidents including domestic violence, drugs, indecent exposure and public drunkenness.

Johnson will be the managing principal on the project, Challas said. Johnson, who lives in Palm Desert, is a former Los Altos resident and former president of the Host Marriott division, Challas said.

"This will be a good project for the city and will generate great income (for Los Altos)," Challas said.

The Four Seasons Associates is "totally separate" from the Tree Farm Associates, Challas said. Beverly Brockway, a Tree Farm associate who sued her partners last October alleging mismanagement, is not part of the Four Seasons Associates, Challas said.

The Tree Farm project, at 4434-4444 El Camino Real, included a 131-unit Marriott residence inn on a 4.5-care site with eight below-market-rate rental condos on the back of the property.

The Tree Farm project is in legal limbo pending resolution of lawsuits and counter suits among the partners.