Regions West | San Francisco
Oct 12, 2007
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
A hotel has long been planned as part of the massive military base reuse plan for the decommissioned Presidio Army post in San Francisco, and Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants has just been chosen by the Presidio Trust Board to take on the lodging project. Larkspur Hotels has proposed the development of a 100-room hotel to be located at the Main Post segment of the 1,500-acre national park.
Larkspur Hotels was one of 13 developers that responded to the Trust's Request for Expressions of Interest just over one year ago.
"We're going to revitalize the Main Post area of the Presidio, and the lodge is the first step," Adam Engelskirchen, director of real estate for the Trust, told CPN today.
Larkspur Hotels' plan for the Presidio Lodge calls for the construction of a ground-up building, as well as the redevelopment of one of the existing 469 historic structures at the site. Additionally, the hotel will be designed to meet the requirements for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating.
"This will be a vibrant centerpiece of the Main Post, which is the heart of the Presidio," Engelskirchen said. "We're restoring a seven-acre parking lot there; we're greening it over and it will be a wonderful open space for public performances, and the hotel will be right on the edge of it." The preliminary development cost for the Presidio Lodge is in the $50 million range.
Upon completion of the project, the government will continue to own the land on which Presidio Lodge will sit and the redeveloped historic building, both of which Larkspur Hotels will lease. Larkspur will soon commence discussions with The Trust to iron out the specifics of the lodge design and other details, as well as the development agreement for the project.
Meetings between the development partners may very well yield plans for a retail element at the hotel, according to Engelskirchen. "We're still working out the details but we would definitely like to have amenities for guests of the hotel and for visitors to the park, so there probably will be some area dedicated to retail amenities."
The Presidio ceased to exist as a military base in 1994. The property was then placed under the operation of the National Park Service before it came under the management of the newly formed Trust two years later. Other projects that are in the works as part of the redevelopment of the site include the conversion of a 300,000-square-foot former hospital into a 161-unit apartment community by Forest City Enterprises Inc. at a cost of approximately $100 million.
In the future, additional projects will be housed in both rehabilitated historic structures and more newly constructed buildings, but the development of new product will be closely monitored. "We have a limit on the total square footage we can have in the entire Presidio; about 5.9 million square feet," Engelskirchen noted. The size of the Presidio Lodge will be restricted to 80,000 to 100,000 square feet.
Larkspur, Calif.-headquartered Larkspur Hotels was established 10 years ago and presently operates 23 properties in California and the Pacifica Northwest under the Larkspur Landings and Larkspur Hotels brands. Since 1996, the Trust has managed the Presidio, which includes 300 acres of historic forest, and buildings totaling 6 million square feet. The Trust is charged by the Federal Government with bringing the park up to the status of a financially self-sufficient entity by 2013.
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
A hotel has long been planned as part of the massive military base reuse plan for the decommissioned Presidio Army post in San Francisco, and Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants has just been chosen by the Presidio Trust Board to take on the lodging project. Larkspur Hotels has proposed the development of a 100-room hotel to be located at the Main Post segment of the 1,500-acre national park. Larkspur Hotels was one of 13 developers that responded to the Trust's Request for Expressions of Interest just over one year ago.
"We're going to revitalize the Main Post area of the Presidio, and the lodge is the first step," Adam Engelskirchen, director of real estate for the Trust, told CPN today.
Larkspur Hotels' plan for the Presidio Lodge calls for the construction of a ground-up building, as well as the redevelopment of one of the existing 469 historic structures at the site. Additionally, the hotel will be designed to meet the requirements for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating.
"This will be a vibrant centerpiece of the Main Post, which is the heart of the Presidio," Engelskirchen said. "We're restoring a seven-acre parking lot there; we're greening it over and it will be a wonderful open space for public performances, and the hotel will be right on the edge of it." The preliminary development cost for the Presidio Lodge is in the $50 million range.
Upon completion of the project, the government will continue to own the land on which Presidio Lodge will sit and the redeveloped historic building, both of which Larkspur Hotels will lease. Larkspur will soon commence discussions with The Trust to iron out the specifics of the lodge design and other details, as well as the development agreement for the project.
Meetings between the development partners may very well yield plans for a retail element at the hotel, according to Engelskirchen. "We're still working out the details but we would definitely like to have amenities for guests of the hotel and for visitors to the park, so there probably will be some area dedicated to retail amenities."
The Presidio ceased to exist as a military base in 1994. The property was then placed under the operation of the National Park Service before it came under the management of the newly formed Trust two years later. Other projects that are in the works as part of the redevelopment of the site include the conversion of a 300,000-square-foot former hospital into a 161-unit apartment community by Forest City Enterprises Inc. at a cost of approximately $100 million.
In the future, additional projects will be housed in both rehabilitated historic structures and more newly constructed buildings, but the development of new product will be closely monitored. "We have a limit on the total square footage we can have in the entire Presidio; about 5.9 million square feet," Engelskirchen noted. The size of the Presidio Lodge will be restricted to 80,000 to 100,000 square feet.
Larkspur, Calif.-headquartered Larkspur Hotels was established 10 years ago and presently operates 23 properties in California and the Pacifica Northwest under the Larkspur Landings and Larkspur Hotels brands. Since 1996, the Trust has managed the Presidio, which includes 300 acres of historic forest, and buildings totaling 6 million square feet. The Trust is charged by the Federal Government with bringing the park up to the status of a financially self-sufficient entity by 2013.
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