By Shawn Raymundo
With the development of a new 130-bed hotel at the Outlets at San Clemente solidly in the construction phase, the property developer recently filed an application with the city, asking to add a rooftop deck that would include a bar and restaurant.
According to Katie Crockett, the city’s associate planner, the developer of The Lodge at San Clemente filed discretionary permits to include the additional floor to the hotel and conference center.
The additional floor would change the engineering of the structure, but the hotel, as it was presented and approved, was designed in a way that it could support a fifth floor, increasing a portion of the site from the existing permitted height of 45 feet to 62 feet, Crockett said.
The request, Crockett also said, would necessitate that an amendment be made to the General Plan and the Specific Plan for the site. She added that while the city hasn’t completed its first review of the application, staff will need additional information from the applicant.
Craig Realty Group, the Newport Beach-based real estate development company behind the outlet center, is the applicant for The Lodge.
Crockett explained the building permits for the foundation have already been pulled, allowing the company to get started on construction. The company has not yet pulled the building permits for the structure, but the city expects them to do so soon.
On a related topic, the new Chick-fil-A, another development project going in at the outlets center, adjacent to the hotel, could soon begin construction as the city is ready to issue building permits to the company once it completes some grading work for the site.
“They need to have that done before they can pull building permits,” Crockett said, adding: “It’s just that they have to complete a prior phase of work … so it should be soon.”
Crocket said the application for The Lodge’s rooftop deck could go before the Design Review Subcommittee to review the architectural change as early as February.
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Shawn Raymundo
Shawn Raymundo is the city editor for the San Clemente Times. He graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies. Before joining Picket Fence Media, he worked as the government accountability reporter for the Pacific Daily News in the U.S. territory of Guam. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnzyTsunami and follow San Clemente Times @SCTimesNews.