New 12-story hotel proposed

The project, which is still in its formative stages, would blend well with the other hotels along the city’s eastern shore, said Planning Manager Kevin Gardiner.

“This is very consistent with the planning for that area … it has made a lot of efforts to comply with the development standards, so we appreciate that,” he said.

The project is expected to go before the Planning Commission this fall, said Gardiner, granting the public an opportunity to chime in on the plans.

Should it be ultimately be approved as proposed, Gardiner said the hotel would be the first constructed on the Bayshore in about 15 years and could be one of the city’s largest.

For context, the Hyatt Regency is 793 rooms spread across 10 stories and the Hilton is 15 stories and 539 rooms, said Gardiner.

“It would be on the bigger end of the range but certainly not the largest,” said Gardiner of the most recent proposal.

Though an EKN Development Group representative did not respond to a request for comment on this article, the company’s website said the hotel would offer extended-stay opportunities for those traveling out of the nearby airport.

“Only minutes away from SFO, the guests can begin to enjoy the unprecedented hotel setting on the beautiful San Francisco Bay that elevate the experience of guests in bold new ways,” according to the website, claiming the hotel should open in 2019.

As the local economy continues to thrive and business travelers frequently access the Bay Area through the airport, tax revenue generated by overnight stays in local hotels has been a boon in recent years for Burlingame.

The city’s strand of 12 hotels along the Bayshore is expected to bring in more than $26 million next year in transit occupancy tax, according to the most recent adopted budget, amounting to almost 40 percent of the city’s projected tax revenue.

The large development is the most recent in a series of substantial projects recently offered along the Burlingame waterfront.

South from the proposed hotel site, construction is underway to construct 767,000 square feet of office as well as research and development space split between four buildings ranging between five and seven floors at the former Burlingame Drive-in site.

North of the drive-in site, ownership of the former Hyatt Cinema has proposed constructing the SFO Technology Center, housing 238,162 square feet of office space, 11,840 square feet for restaurants and 8,610 square feet of retail square footage.

Councilmembers recently approved development of a new Topgolf sports entertainment facility nearby at the Burlingame Golf Center and owners of the Burlingame Dragons expressed interest in constructing a new professional soccer stadium at Murray Field.

While Gardiner acknowledged the potential future struggles associated with accommodating the expected uptick in travelers to the Bayfront, he suggested recent changes in hotel transportation may alleviate some concerns.

Most travelers staying along the waterfront do not drive their own cars and instead rely on ride hailing apps or shuttles, said Gardiner, so it is reasonable to expect the hotel would not greatly increase car traffic.

“The project impacts of the hotel seem to be less than what they might have been,” he said.

Linking the potential newest addition to an already established strand of hotels could also help the proposed business thrive.

“That has always been the intent, and this would fit,” he said of the Bayshore hotel industry.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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