Hyatt redevelopment still faces many obstacles

When they opened their resubmittal discussion before the Development Review Committee on Nov. 6, representatives of the planned redevelopment of the Hyatt Regency property next to The Quay said there weren’t any substantial changes to the plans since their initial submittal in September.

There were still plenty of comments, though, from the panel of city department representatives that remain unresolved.

Kolter Urban, which owns the property, is planning a seamless transition from its Ritz-Carlton Residences II tower in The Quay to the Hyatt property, currently a hotel and parking structure that will be razed. In their place will be a mixed-use development of two 18-story towers that include a 166-room luxury hotel and 224 condominiums, both using a common motor court entrance, plus 4,700 square feet of street level retail.

The condominiums are planned as an extension of Kolter Urban’s Ritz-Carlton Residences project. The hotel, which will also have a 7,000-square-foot ballroom, some 3,000 square feet smaller than the Hyatt’s event space, will be a Hyatt-branded Thompson Hotel.

Kolter Urban’s parent company, Kolter Group, acquired the property in 2022. Preliminary plans for the site included two more residential towers not within, but adjacent to, the northern side of The Quay. 

“I don't think we've made any real substantial changes since our initial submittal,” said Travis Futterman of engineering consultant Stantec. “We’ve just tweaked the entry geometry a little bit, driveway widths, the configuration FPL rooms and our utility layout. Big picture wise, though, we're still an 18-story mixed use development, so not many major changes.”

There remained enough unresolved issues that will require a resubmittal to the DRC, 17 of them related to utilities. Among others are conflicts between the vision for Boulevard of the Arts “complete street” transformation and present conditions regarding elements such as striping, valet access, drop-off and pick-up location and more, and how the project can conform to both. 

“There's a lot of crossfire here that we're getting caught up in on the complete street situation and we were hoping to meet with the city tomorrow to discuss to discuss all that,” said Futterman, indicating Kolter Urban is anxious to keep preliminary work of the project on track. Staff availability, however, is an obstacle to that. 

“We really wanted that meeting tomorrow to happen so we could move on from the comments that we’re caught up in with the city internally,” Futterman said. “Anything we can do to help the city coordinate with each other so we can move on with our project, we'll be glad to do expeditiously.”