The city planning department is processing an application submitted by the Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott – a slightly scaled-back version of a prior proposal – for a hotel on Gateway Drive.
There was initial interest toward building a Fairfield hotel here in 2009. The council approved it, followed by the planning commission in February 2009, but the applicant pulled out because of economic concerns, said Abraham Prado, associate planner at the city’s planning department.
Now, the project is back on track, though precise time frames are uncertain as to potential groundbreaking or completion.
“The city is currently processing the application,” Prado said in an interview.
It is expected to go before the planning commission Feb. 27, as the application is going through a site and architectural review process.
Prado said plans for the hotel include 81 rooms and suites, a business work room with an office, an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room, and a breakfast room. It would be four stories and would be located at 390 Gateway Drive west of Tiffany Ford.
Prado said local engineering company Kelley Engineering and Surveying is working on construction plans, as well as landscape architect Anita Kane. Design Resources Architects, PLLC designed the hotel plans.
If approved by the planning commission, the applicant would have 15 days to submit approval for building permits, he said.
“They (planning department officials) are helping them to get that thing through, sooner than later,” said Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, who announced at last week’s city council meeting the company was seeking to build in Hollister.
“They’re going through the process,” he said.
The interest from the hotel builder comes less than a year after the revived Hollister Rally motorcycle event last July. The city has committed to the event for 10 years, while the rally creates immense demand for lodging in the area.
