Longhairbear
Well-Known Member
I hadn't heard about Blues leaving DTD. Anything planned to replace it?
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4-Star JW Marriott Hotel now planned for GardenWalk
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
Nope. Disney is mum so far. There were dueling press releases from Disney and HOB wishing each other well, but no other info. A few other folks on another board said there was no love lost between HOB and Disney; Disney didn't like the rough demographic HOB brought onto property with many of their bands, and HOB hated Disney's parking situation and the gripes about parking they dealt with from customers.
Sounds like it's a change for the best for both parties.
But GardenWalk is going to have a very, very slow autumn and winter until House of Blues can open up there later in 2016.
Downtown Disney, obviously, will be just fine without House of Blues until something else opens in that space. Since it was a customized concert space, the HOB building will likely need to be massively rebuilt, if not bulldozed and something entirely different built there. That could take a while.
The OC Register is reporting this morning that a second 4-Star hotel has just been proposed for the same area.
The second hotel is on the site of the existing Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, on the western side of GardenWalk along Harbor Blvd. The brand of hotelier has not been announced, but a major hotel developer, Wincome Group, is involved with a budget of $160 Million and a request to start construction in 2016 for a 2018 completion. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-690681-anaheim-luxury.html
Interestingly, according to friends in local real estate, the Wincome Group is the same outfit that used to own the Carousel Inn before they sold it to Disney earlier this year. The Carousel Inn will be bulldozed to become a large skybridge over Harbor Blvd. connecting the new parking garage with the Esplanade, about two blocks north of this proposed hotel.
Here's the rendering of the newly proposed luxury hotel, looking north up Harbor Blvd. Notice Space Mountain off in the left distance.
And here's the hotel it will replace. The noticeably dumpy Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, which stopped being a decent place to stay sometime in the 1980's. This is looking from the opposite direction from the rendering above, viewed from the corner of Harbor Blvd. and Disney Way.
This will be a huge improvement for this prime piece of real estate!
The second hotel is on the site of the existing Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, on the western side of GardenWalk along Harbor Blvd. The brand of hotelier has not been announced, but a major hotel developer, Wincome Group, is involved with a budget of $160 Million and a request to start construction in 2016 for a 2018 completion. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-690681-anaheim-luxury.html
Interestingly, according to friends in local real estate, the Wincome Group is the same outfit that used to own the Carousel Inn before they sold it to Disney earlier this year. The Carousel Inn will be bulldozed to become a large skybridge over Harbor Blvd. connecting the new parking garage with the Esplanade, about two blocks north of this proposed hotel.
Here's the rendering of the newly proposed luxury hotel, looking north up Harbor Blvd. Notice Space Mountain off in the left distance.
And here's the hotel it will replace. The noticeably dumpy Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, which stopped being a decent place to stay sometime in the 1980's. This is looking from the opposite direction from the rendering above, viewed from the corner of Harbor Blvd. and Disney Way.
This will be a huge improvement for this prime piece of real estate!
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
It needs zombies and overturned trash cans to complete the Dawn of the Dead look.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Wow. (Side note, I believe that property was a Hyatt back in the 80's.) While this will further dress-up Harbor, I see it doing nothing for GardenWalk with a access road etc. separating the two. They'd have to do some creative reconfiguration / skywalk for integration.The OC Register is reporting this morning that a second 4-Star hotel has just been proposed for the same area.
The second hotel is on the site of the existing Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, on the western side of GardenWalk along Harbor Blvd. The brand of hotelier has not been announced, but a major hotel developer, Wincome Group, is involved with a budget of $160 Million and a request to start construction in 2016 for a 2018 completion. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-690681-anaheim-luxury.html
Interestingly, according to friends in local real estate, the Wincome Group is the same outfit that used to own the Carousel Inn before they sold it to Disney earlier this year. The Carousel Inn will be bulldozed to become a large skybridge over Harbor Blvd. connecting the new parking garage with the Esplanade, about two blocks north of this proposed hotel.
Here's the rendering of the newly proposed luxury hotel, looking north up Harbor Blvd. Notice Space Mountain off in the left distance.
And here's the hotel it will replace. The noticeably dumpy Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, which stopped being a decent place to stay sometime in the 1980's. This is looking from the opposite direction from the rendering above, viewed from the corner of Harbor Blvd. and Disney Way.
This will be a huge improvement for this prime piece of real estate!
Old Mouseketeer
Well-Known Member
Actually, I believe the stump of a skywalk exists on the GardenWalk side. If you enter the GardenWalk parking structure from Disney Way (going South), you have to go under an enclosed pedestrian bridge that ends abruptly at the property line (to the West). I have always believed that this was the intent.
Yup.
The new hotel has a skybridge connecting it to GardenWalk to its east. The skybridge is shown in the hotel schematic in the OC Register article. It's the second image found in that article. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-690681-anaheim-luxury.html
The connecting bridge has already been built but dead-ends in open air 30 feet above the ground, as seen in this photo at the end of the driveway. The new hotel would rise directly to the right of this driveway and be connected via the skybridge.
It's had several names and owners over the last 50+ years. It started as the Charter House Hotel in the early 60's.
It wasn't unusual for mid-priced Motor Hotels (motel for short) in the 1960's to have bellboys and doormen. Here a bellboy opens the door of a 1962 Impala hardtop for arriving Charter House guests while the Charter House and Disneyland signs blaze brightly on Harbor Blvd.
The Charter House had a rather fabulous cocktail lounge with swinging entertainment, and a Jr. Olympic size swimming pool. I hope the young lady in the chaise lounge donned her mandatory swim cap over her bouffant hairdo before she took a dip! (Youngsters: In the 20th century it was typical of hotel pools to post signs stating all women must wear "swim caps" if they wanted to swim in the pool.)
By the 1980's it was a corporate hotel, and @NobodyElse says it was a Hyatt. I only remember it for having a good restaurant that had famous champagne brunches on Sundays. That was its last gasp at legitimacy. It faded quickly in the 1990's, and just needs to be bulldozed now. Although it's really a large piece of property wedged between GardenWalk and Disneyland property right on Harbor, so no wonder it's now slated to become a swanky 4 star hotel.
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NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
I recall a harpist at those Sunday Brunches. The more you know...
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that - I totally missed the "Slide Show".
I haven't been to GardenWalk in a while, but zooming in on Google Maps (not Earth view) shows what might be a hallway to the courtyard lined up with the skybridge. I guess that could work (or perhaps be dressed up with storefronts or displays?).
Maybe I'll try to get up there and poke around next week. It's just that it makes me feel so lonely... ;-)
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Is everyone bummed that this is going in another area that could have been used for DLR expansion?
FigmentForver96
Well-Known Member
While it would have been great to use for resort use, I am happy to see the areas surrounding the parks becoming more upscale and less trashy.
How do you figure? It's across six lanes of Harbor Blvd., cut off from the park by Tower of Terror and a backstage area.
The Anaheim Plaza is the hotel at the top of this photo, partially obscured by the blog logo.
Burgower1994
Well-Known Member
http://www.rkf.com/rkf/lease-property-detail-flyer.php?lease_property_id=966
Westgate Timeshare 400 suites opening 2018
Westgate Timeshare 400 suites opening 2018
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Is it just me, or is it odd that that is shown on the "Street Level" plan page?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Why? There would still be a desire for the timeshares to read as being on the ground and the lobby would probably be on street level.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
I don't know. I guess I just need to get back over there to get a better understanding / comprehension of the whole layout. As I recall, ground level of that plot is all parking (as well as the levels above). I suppose they could put a lobby, or just elevator / escalator pad there, with the assumption that the actual timeshares would be built above the parking structure.
Do you have any idea of their plans?
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
http://www.thetimeshareauthority.com/2007/09/01/westgate-timeshare-expanding-in-anaheim/
From 2007:
" The Anaheim Garden Walk Mall will be home to a new Westgate timeshare resort, which will feature timeshare units that either overlook the Disneyland theme park, or timeshare units that overlook the mall itself.
Westgate is purchasing the space above the mall’s parking lot and will construct 400 timeshare units. While approval of the building’s design by the Anaheim city commission is still pending, Westgate timeshares are continuing to move ahead with their vision of a seven-story timeshare resort, which will include a fitness center, two pools and water play areas for children. "
From 2007:
" The Anaheim Garden Walk Mall will be home to a new Westgate timeshare resort, which will feature timeshare units that either overlook the Disneyland theme park, or timeshare units that overlook the mall itself.
Westgate is purchasing the space above the mall’s parking lot and will construct 400 timeshare units. While approval of the building’s design by the Anaheim city commission is still pending, Westgate timeshares are continuing to move ahead with their vision of a seven-story timeshare resort, which will include a fitness center, two pools and water play areas for children. "
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/mall-443789-westgate-disney.html
Then, from 2013:
"A Florida-based timeshare developer is seeking a buyer for its 400-unit timeshare-hotel project planned for construction atop the Anaheim GardenWalk parking garage.
Westgate Resorts of Orlando originally had hoped to sell the development rights for $37 million, but now will settle for whatever it can get in an online auction-type sale, said company Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip.
Westgate has architectural drawings, utilities and parking, as well as the air rights to build above the parking garage at the mall, located on Katella Avenue just east of the Disney resort. The developer had planned to begin construction by last year, but was delayed by the sour economy and a lack of financing, Waltrip said."
The PDF that Burgower posted shows HOB among other things, so it seems fairly current. On the other hand, it also states "By day, shoppers bustle from one major retail location to another along GardenWalk's vibrant streetscape.", so who knows how accurate all the facts are.
Then, from 2013:
"A Florida-based timeshare developer is seeking a buyer for its 400-unit timeshare-hotel project planned for construction atop the Anaheim GardenWalk parking garage.
Westgate Resorts of Orlando originally had hoped to sell the development rights for $37 million, but now will settle for whatever it can get in an online auction-type sale, said company Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip.
Westgate has architectural drawings, utilities and parking, as well as the air rights to build above the parking garage at the mall, located on Katella Avenue just east of the Disney resort. The developer had planned to begin construction by last year, but was delayed by the sour economy and a lack of financing, Waltrip said."
The PDF that Burgower posted shows HOB among other things, so it seems fairly current. On the other hand, it also states "By day, shoppers bustle from one major retail location to another along GardenWalk's vibrant streetscape.", so who knows how accurate all the facts are.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
A couple of quick observations, in no real order.
- The HKS drawing shows the proposed sky bridge taking up roughly half (the north half) of the existing structure.
- Google Maps earth view shows it contains mechanical equipment. It would need to be relocated / removed.
- I took a quick field trip there yesterday. The only open businesses on the upper level are Johnny Rockets and Fire+Ice.
- There does seem to be active construction for the Toby Keith's I Heart This Bar and Grill.
- (That name has always bugged me.)
- There appears to at least be prep for demo in the old theater location (future HOB).
- The two plots to either side of the fire station are still dirt and weeds.
- On a positive note, nobody will need to be displaced to run that sky bridge straight into the courtyard.
- Positive note 2: their generous 1st hour of free parking was double what I needed to do a couple laps of looking around.