Use permits and other key approvals for an 86-room, 48,100-square-foot Hampton Inn Hotel on the east end of Concord’s downtown were approved Tuesday night.
The hotel will be built on a triangle-shaped piece of land bounded by Market Street, Clayton Road, Pine Street and Willow Pass Road just east of state Highway 242.
Council members shared concerns about parking at the hotel, and about traffic. But what generated the most discussion was what could become of the hotel five, 10 or 20 years after it’s built.
Councilwoman Laura Hoffmeister was concerned that what opens as a Hampton Inn, with a set level of amenities, could at some point sell to another operator that operates a lower-budget operation.
“I know we’ve had hotels that promised us the moon … and they sell their (brand) and it goes downhill from there,” Hoffmeister said. “I just don’t want it to end up being a problem down the road,” a facility like others in the city that have degraded into sources of neighbors’ complaints and frequent police calls.
To address that concern, the council will also require the hotel developers, or later owners of the hotel, to come before the council again for permits if a lesser standard of service is proposed. City Attorney Susanne Brown told the council members they couldn’t simply regulate hotel branding; if a budget hotel chain buys the building in 20 years and offers the same level of amenities, she said, it would not have to apply for new use permits.
The city owned the 1.24-acre site off Market Street until 2017. The land was sold to the TDI Automotive Group, which had eyed building a Chevrolet dealership there and obtained the permits to do so. However, TDI ultimately didn’t build the dealership and in June 2020 sold the land to WRSJG LLC, which has built and operated other Hilton properties.
In April 2020, the Concord City Council voted unanimously 5-0 to remove a deed restriction on that land requiring the land to host an auto dealership, allowing the hotel application to move ahead “under the Hilton Hotel umbrella,” according to a city staff report.
The council also approved a zoning change, from “regional commercial” to “downtown mixed use,” needed to accommodate the hotel on that land.
A separate commissioned report acknowledges that a hotel on this land will make traffic worse at what is already a complicated Market Street-Willow Pass Road-Pine Street intersection.
A new homeless shelter
Keep bringing more poor and homeless into the area. Love it!
Am I missing something…I read it twice and still do not understand the homeless comments.
Just wait and see 🙂 It will be a den of prostitution
LOL…remember when they built those condos across from the police station and there was a ring right there involving profile persons. Talk about under the nose.
I couldn’t agree more with Time to Go and Bill! This is beyond ridiculous. Instead of wasting copious amounts of money into this poor investment, this money should have been used to help clean up Concord! Boy oh boy … Concord PD is going to have their hands very full. Welcome to Liberal CA at its finest!!
@ clazzy
It’s not an investment by the city. They no longer own the site. It’s a permit approval.
“A separate commissioned report acknowledges that a hotel on this land will make traffic worse at what is already a complicated Market Street-Willow Pass Road-Pine Street intersection.”
Duh, so fix the intersection so it can handle more traffic and negotiate the cost share with the hotel operator….
But they approved this and not Chick-Fil-A. SMH.
If I look at the map correctly and if blue is the hotel that means that the gas station will stay and so will that tiny strip mall right next to the hotel is that correct?
yes – that’s correct… as other said = take out the gas station and strip mall ..really going to be tacky as is planned
This seems to be the same proposed misuse of real estate as was the soccer stadium on Monument.
Traffic is already a nightmare through there!
It will be another Premier Inn with criminals and drugs. CPD should start hiring more Cops now. They will be needed.
Why bother, we will be sheltering-in-place until we can not afford to pay for one night in a Hotel.
We appreciate the City Council’s thoughtful accommodation. For too long, we’ve had no choice but to traverse miles of blighted surface streets to access motels along Clayton Road to rendezvous with escorts and attend drug dealers’ “trunk shows.” By placing the motel right by the 242, we’ll now have easy access to prostitution and drug dealers that make middle age bearable.
I don’t the traffic congestion, banal, homogenous architecture or even the rampant car burglaries. No, the worst part is having to pass downtrodden Concord residents on the sidewalk or wallowing in domestic cars in the next lane, especially at stop lights. It makes me so sad that people actually live that way.
Waste of Concords Money. Just another place for Homeless and Criminals to live. Why don’t you work on try to get all the empty buildings field with tenants .
Concord it a horrible place to visit .
It’s a use permit DD. It’s not an investment by the city.
Sounds good, a new, clean hooker motel.
How many people visit Concord and need a hotel to the point we need another hotel?
It’s not the reason,Newsom will buy it immediatly and make it a crime ridden helll hole.That area is already so bad no visitor to Concord would rent a room there.
Do people vacation in Concord?No,this is to house locals,and not very good ones.
I had the same thought about who is traveling to Concord? Long ago, before we had a house with a guest room, my parents used to visit from NY and stay at the former Holiday Inn Express (now Days Inn) on Clayton Rd near Ygnacio. It was OK for a while, they ere very close, liked their room and the feee breakfasts, but it soon became apparent many were locals renting rooms to party or crashing after a concert at the Pavillion. I was so happy when we could finally have guests stay with us. Now I feel sad that no one can visit these days.
Uh, it is adjacent to several notable corporate HQs, including ASRC, AssetMark, Round Table, and BevMo! Business travelers visiting those offices have no walkable options (the Hilton is a schlep and Crown Plaza is out-of-range), so execs generally stay in Walnut Creek or at the Lafayette Park. A decent 3-star option right downtown is a welcome addition and certainly an upgrade from that blighted lot.
Yes, I figured business travelers would be main demographic for a hotel there. But I don’t see business travel recovering any time soon. And let’s see how long many of these corp headquarters hang on to leases. Working from home, Zoom meetings will continue in the future due to the cost savings.
The city can fill the parking lot with 1-hour parking meters and make a bundle.
I don’t understand the need/purpose of a hotel at that location?
Who makes traveling to Concord their destination? And how does the City Council know. this?
Are other hotels at capacity that Concord needs increase the number of rooms?
Make traffic worse? That seems to be a super-power of our City Council.
I could see drug trafficking and sex trafficking operating at that location from day 1. I hope the police have a substation close by. Can’t wait to see how this turns out…I’m moving!
That strip mall is sketchy! I’m all for new development that will help the area. I’m glad they are asking about what it could become. Veranda was sold as a high end retail development and ended up with T.J. Maxx
Run, Hampton, run!
That just seems strange. I think of it as dead space, but I’m sure the guys with all sorts of advanced degrees, Powerpoint presentations, and with tassels on their leather shoes know better than I do.
This seems to be a HORRIBLE location. This is a 4 way intersection with very where the traffic is bad all the time. Plus it’s over the canal.
And adding to this HORRIBLE spot. Here’s a example… a tourist get off the freeway right there, they go straight because they didn’t realize they needed left there. How will they get there. If they make it to willow pass you can turn onto Market from there. It’ll be a mess.
This is privately owned property, not city property. Some of the commenters here seemed confused on that, so it should be clarified that this is not city owned land, and city money doesn’t go into this hotel venture at all. The city’s only say in the matter was regarding the zoning.
The Hampton brand of hotels is owned by Hilton. The initial contract is 20 years, with an option to extend the contract. If they thought this location would fail, Hilton wouldn’t have signed the papers.
The primary customer is going to be people who have business to attend to in our part of the Bay, or in SF but don’t want to stay in SF. The hotel will also serve people who are visiting the greater Bay Area for sporting events or general tourism, and don’t want to stay in a hotel on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel.
Taxes from the hotel can help pay for increased police presence in that part of Concord.
This is a professional and clean hotel chain. Drug addicts, homeless and prostitutes are not going to be able to afford the room rates. (Well, the high class prostitutes might be able to work something out with visiting businessmen and politicians.)
Here, here, Natalie! It will be nice to have a decent place to patronize with high-end escorts without having to break the bank for the Lafayette Park or WC Marriot.
Taking a blue-chip — or even NASDAQ-grade — escort to a fleabag Monument or Clayton Road meth den can be a deal breaker, and those ladies need cash up-front!
An there’s a what ten story Hilton Hotel less than a mile away.
Plus at other end of Market Street is Premier Inn on Concord Ave.
Am thinking project of this size is doomed to fail.
How many years did that hotel south of Buchanan Field sit empty ?
Was near closed chevy dealership.
That hotel was originally a Holiday Inn. It has changed hands many times over the years. The location is terrible, nobody can find it.
Concord is hardly a destination location, how will this be supported? Will it end up low income housing? Where is the funds coming from in this current situation? This seems extremely unimportant right now.
yep here we go
so the city just used our money to build this hotel in the so called shadiest location
then they will sell it to the state at a reduced cost so newscum can house the bums
then they rinse and repeat
so we are being taxed to provide for bums and their healthcare and such
now also getting double dipped by the city and state scammers
welcome to socialism
you won ….
lol
wow
they dont even hide the corruption anymore
because your blinded by their lies
by the way we are still paying for the highspeed rail scam 30 billion dollar bond
we will never see the money
nice work losers
yep here we go
so the city just used our money to build this hotel in the so called shadiest location
then they will sell it to the state at a reduced cost so newscum can house the bums
then they rinse and repeat
so we are being taxed to provide for bums and their healthcare and such
now also getting double dipped by the city and state scammers
welcome to socialism
Let me repeat what others have conveyed in print…..
it is private property not owned by the city but will generate tax revenue.
Please do you homework before downloading your dated propaganda.
Wear a mask and get your vaccine shot folks ….please.
Thank you –
Be well –
yes socialism
we paid for the hotel
you won ….
lol
wow
they dont even hide the corruption anymore
because your blinded by their lies
by the way we are still paying for the highspeed rail scam 30 billion dollar bond
we will never see the money
nice work losers
have another drink, Random
Booked a room at an Extended Stay for this week in another state. Had good experiences elsewhere. This “non-smoking “ room smelled worse than an ashtray/septic tank combo. I am guessing the homeless and various traffickers frequent the place. So yes, the property and the parent company can keep a place up or let it become something from your nightmares.
That sure is some original architecture.
Just check in to the Royal Palms hotel on Willow pass. I can tell you there is nothing royal about that place. Run down dirt hole if i have ever seen one. I cant believe people even stay there. One look inside the room and i was GONE!!!! I guess the city just lets people run these health hazzard hotels without a problem
Youre better off sleeping in your car,these motels are the last step before homelessness/death.