Skip Descant, The Desert Sun
A new 140-room hotel with millennials as its target market is planned for downtown Palm Springs in the new Museum Market Plaza.
The five-story hotel is being proposed by Wessman Development, and would be built steps from the new Kimpton brand hotel currently in construction.
The hotel is planned as an AC by Marriott brand, which launched in Europe in 2011 as a joint venture with Spanish hotelier Antonio Catalan. The company plans to open its first hotel in the U.S. this fall at the Cotton Exchange Building in New Orleans, quickly followed by locations in Kansas City and Miami in early 2015.
The AC hotel proposal will be presented to the Palm Springs Architectural Advisory Committee on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the city hall council chambers.
The project is being proposed in what's known as Block F, which is one of the interior blocks for the 14-acre downtown redevelopment. The new hotel would sit at the corner of Belardo Road and Main Street. The project is proposed as a mixed-use commercial and hotel project with the 80,100-square-foot hotel sitting atop 4,023 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, according documents submitted to the Palm Springs planning department.
"We always had in mind to build a second hotel in that area," said Michael Braun, senior vice president for Wessman Development.
The AC Marriott brand is a familiar one in Europe and is expected to be recognized and followed by international travelers — one of the reasons for launching in cities like New Orleans and Miami.
"This brand particularly, is going to focus on the younger millinials," added Braun.
