Foster City approves new hotel

“The gas you are going to have to get from PG&E at this point. But as far as electricity, it will be 100% PCE, which is what the city of Foster City does. We are, as a city, all our power comes 100% from PCE. So we are not asking you to do something we are not doing ourselves,” Hindi said.

The hotel would be 83,187 square feet, with 151 guest rooms and 95 parking spaces. The top floor features a restaurant, bar and a fitness studio, while the ground floor would have surface parking and a lobby. The 1.36-acre lot is currently empty. Surrounding developments include Costco Wholesale store to the northwest, a Visa office building southwest, townhomes southeast and a Marriott Hotel northeast.

Hindi asked what market conditions would be like coming out of a pandemic for that hotel and when demand would return to pre-pandemic levels. Developer representatives said they expect strong occupancy demand post-pandemic. Nirav Shah, who represents development for Hyatt Hotels in the western seaboard, said the occupancy levels would return much sooner than anticipated. He noted in some Bay Area hotels, Hyatt is exceeding 80% occupancy levels. “I can assure you that based on what we are seeing now, we are already seeing very healthy demand levels returning. It’s not back to pre-pandemic levels, but based on the indicators we are seeing, we expect the demand to recover even before the anticipated 2024 levels,” Shah said.

The developer, MPQ Foster City Metro Center LLC, owns the site and purchased it from Visa in 2017 for $7 million. Lance Sorensen of MPQ Investment Management, who lives in the city and owns the property, noted all the developers he met wanted to build a 300-room hotel. He decided not to because it would affect the neighborhood beyond what he felt was appropriate.

“We continually scaled it down to what you see today. We are not going to kill it in the market, but it’s a sustainable business that can be run, [and] it respects our residential neighbors,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen said construction would not likely start for another year and a half. He also highlighted that the project would not affect schools and would have a lower water usage compared to a larger apartment.

“That’s why we think that this piece of property is really well fitted for this size that we did,” Sorensen said.

A resident who lived in the surrounding townhome area spoke and expressed concern about noise, traffic and congestion issues due to other properties and hotels in the area and the need for peace and quiet in the area.

Mayor Sanjay Gehani was concerned about the amount of dialogue between some residents and developers due to COVID-19 but thanked Sorensen for his efforts on community engagement. Gehani felt many resident concerns had ultimately been addressed.

Sorensen said his team had done due diligence with the neighbors and tried to address all questions during outreach meetings.

“If there is anything to be said, communication is something we have done from the get-go on this project,” Sorensen said.

The Planning Commission approved the project at its June 17 meeting. The motion passed 4-0 at the City Council meeting, with Vice Mayor Richa Awasthi recusing herself.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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