Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - December 28, 2017 SpaceX Rocket Launch Provides Spectacular Photo Opportunities No, it wasn’t a UFO. The white plume seen streaking across Southland skies the evening of Friday, December 22 came courtesy of the Hawthorne-based SpaceX, which launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The dazzling visuals spurred many to pull out their phones to take a photo or video. This view shows the rocket’s flight trail from above the company’s local headquarters. Photo Courtesy of Public Domain Civic Center Marriott Project Update: Up To $3 Mil in Annual Tax Revenues By Derrick Deane Before heading out for the holiday break, the Hawthorne City Council held one last special meeting to hear an update on the construction of dual Marriot-branded hotel projects across the street from City Hall. Since its initial approval vote, the project has progressed to the point of rooms beginning to be installed on the property. The dual location will feature 354 total rooms in the Courtyard and Towne Place Suites brands and include conference rooms, restaurants and other hotel amenities. The onsite restaurant will measure 4,000 square feet. “Originally when we came to the City, our programming was 300 rooms. Our final [plan] ended up at 354 rooms,” Brad Wagstaff, owner and managing partner of Mogul Capital, said during the presentation. “The impact of that to the City is an additional $300,000 of extra Transit Occupancy Tax that we’re anticipating out of the project.” Hawthorne is anticipated to get $2-$3 million in tax revenue that it doesn’t need to share with Los Angeles County or the state. The hotels will feature separate entrances and lobbies for each respective brand, but also include shared amenities. “You’ll have a dedicated lobby for the Courtyard hotel and a dedicated lobby for the Towne Place Suites hotel--but it will have a shared fitness center, a shared swimming pool which is oversized, shared spa facilities which are oversized, shared barbeque and sports court areas,” Wagstaff said. “By being able to do both hotels together, we’re actually able to increase the amount and quality of the amenities.” With the site adjacent to several businesses as well as the Hawthorne Public Library, Wagstaff explained that his firm took a macro approach to solving parking around the area. “What we’ve tried to do is improve the entire block,” he said. “Our goal is that this doesn’t look like a bunch of pieces that weren’t coordinated and planned together. The spaces are a shared parking space. So during the day, Chase and Academy Insurance have higher demand for parking--and at night, we have a higher demand for parking and so we’re able to flex and share parking spaces together.” The Hawthorne Public Library will feature dedicated daytime library patron parking that will flex to nighttime hotel parking. Wagstaff noted that the library’s operating hours and the hours that guests arrive to the hotel work really well. “It should be a beautiful building,” he said. “It’s a building that we’re very happy to have designed and I think the city of Hawthorne will love it. I think it will show very nicely and it will represent the quality that is inherent in these brands.” This past July, the project got underway with underground utilities installed before moving on to pouring footings for the hotels in September. In November, the site began prepping for modular installations. “While you’ve been seeing some site work progress next door, for the last four months we’ve been under production on these hotel units,” Wagstaff said. “This is one of the largest modular built hotels that Marriott has done and is the largest dual-branded Marriott that’s built modularly and there is a lot of interest on this project at the Marriott level and nationally among developers.” By the end of this month, 100 rooms should be set in place and structural connections can begin before another 100 rooms are added on by the end of January. Another 100 rooms will be added in February and the final rows of rooms will be installed the first week of March. The modular designs allow for a much quicker construction process with rooms already assembled when arriving on site. “When they show up on site, the bathroom is complete,” Wagstaff said. “All of the flooring is in, glass is installed. They show up and set them and within a few hours of housekeeping getting in and [cleaning] it’s literally a rentable room. This project is going to come out of the ground very fast and that’s part of our goal in building this modularly to get this open quickly.” Wagstaff added that the goal is to be open by Memorial Day weekend in 2018. “It’s a super aggressive goal, but we’re hoping we’re going to hit it.” Wagstaff called the project a win-win for Hawthorne, which will see annual tax revenue from the site for the next 40 years. The development comes with a 20-year agreement with Marriott plus an option to re-sign and a 40-year agreement between Hawthorne and Mogul Capital on the hotels that will be built. “This is an $85 million investment that we’re making that we’re not asking the City of Hawthorne at all to step up and write a check and we’re not asking for a general fund pledge or [financial] support from the City to get this project built,” Wagstaff said. “We’re paying prevailing wage, we’re paying market rate for the land we’re purchasing. We’ve even added dollars to the purchase and sale agreement since we originally signed it.” The Council also voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 7917, which allows the construction project to continue on to its next phase. Hawthorne will receive $7.44 million for the purchase of the land on which the hotels will be built. “I think this is going to be a win-win for everybody,” Mayor Alex Vargas said. “This is a really good thing for Hawthorne and there is a lot of good here.” • Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................5 Classifieds............................2 Film.........................................2 Finance..................................3 Food.......................................5 Legals............................... 6-7 Looking Up......................... 3 Pets........................................8 Politically Speaking............3 Obituary.................................2 Seniors..................................2 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 70˚/52˚ Saturday Sunny 66˚/53˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 64˚/52 The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
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