The Scotts Valley City Council recently approved a long-delayed plan for a new hotel at 5030 Scotts Valley Drive.
According to property owner Anatol Shliapnikoff, the planned Lexington Hotel will be an “upscale” establishment.
The plans filed with the city call for a three-story, 128-room hotel equipped with underground parking as well as surface parking, a swimming pool, and landscaping.
The hotel building will be 35 to 48 feet high and will cover 24,727 square feet with the total floor area spanning 70,030 square feet.
“I am delighted that I can build an upscale hotel in Scotts Valley,” Shliapnikoff said. “It is going to be really green and after 10 years of trying finally everything came together and it is going to be built this year, we will break ground.”
Four pre-existing buildings — including the historical Octagon building have been removed from the property in preparation for the new hotel.
The Octagon building was Scotts Valley’s first post office said Scotts Valley Historical Society and Planning Commission member, Debbie Muth.
“It [the Octagon building] was dismantled and we saved the pieces that were still salvageable,” Muth said. “Mainly some roof rafters.”
Muth said that the pieces are currently being stored in a shed on the property.
The historical society plans to use the pieces from the Octagon building and existing pieces from the recent deconstruction of the historic Polo Barn, to build Scotts Valley’s first historical museum.
Scotts Valley City Councilmember Randy Johnson said that plans for the new hotel’s construction were ready to go in 2007, but the economic downturn prevented the project from moving forward.
The hotel was originally a Holiday Inn Express, but was changed to the Lexington name somewhere along the way, he said.
“I think (Shliapnikoff) is waiting on the final word in terms of the loan and as soon as that comes through he will inform the city,” Johnson said. “He is hopeful of doing it before Oct. 15 of this year.”
It appears that the only obstacles to building the hotel are financing, he said. Once the project’s construction begins, it should only take 14 to 15 months.
“It is an extremely important project from the standpoint of finances,” Johnson said. “…Hotels are probably the biggest revenue-generators imaginable.”
Johnson also said that the transient occupancy tax revenue that the new hotel will generate will help the city of Scotts Valley ensure there is enough money for basic community services.
“(Transient occupancy tax) money goes into a general fund that allows us to keep our basic services intact,” Johnson said, “which is always three things: police and safety, our infrastructure and roads, and also our parks and recreation.”
Mayor Jim Reed said that he thinks that the new hotel will bring big bucks for the city.
“Broadly speaking, it wouldn’t surprise me if the presence of this one hotel could increase our revenues by 5 percent the first year that the hotel opens,” he said.
Reed explained that impact fees paid by the Lexington Hotel are important for maintaining roads and that all development needs to account for the impact that it brings, especially pertaining to transportation services, he said.
“The cumulative impact of projects like this that are going to bring more people to town, more economic activity, and more residents are going to create a need for more transportation improvements elsewhere,” Reed said, “so there are fees built into a project that enable each development to pay a share of those costs.”
