Representatives of the Dream Hotel project near the Palm Springs Convention Center are planning a little community outreach as they hope to move forward with construction after a three-year stall.
Driving the news: Lauri Kibby, acting as a developer of the project for Selene Palm Springs, LLC, will be available for questions from the community at a meeting next Wednesday, Aug. 3.
- The meeting will be held in the community room of the Center Court condominium complex, 355 N. Avenida Caballeros. It is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
Why it matters: The Dream Hotel is one of four stalled or dead hotel projects in the city that has drawn the ire of residents and the attention of city officials. The city went as far as threatening legal action against the four developers in May 2021. One of the projects, the Tova Hotel and Beach Club at 1875 N. Palm Canyon Dr., was eventually torn down.
- We included the Dream Hotel in our July 13 story about another long-delayed project sitting incomplete, the proposed Thompson Hotel, formerly called The Andaz Hotel.
Looking back: Ground was broken on the project in 2017. As envisioned then, it would have contained roughly 170 rooms, 30 condos, two restaurants, and two pools. The hope was that the development would provide additional hotel rooms near the convention center.
- Construction stalled in 2019, however, after a lien on the property was put in place during a dispute with contractors, essentially shutting off the financing.
- Then came the pandemic, which further threw the project off course, according to the developer.
Looking ahead: Last month, in an apparent sign that everything was in place to move forward with construction, the developers filed design modifications with the city, aiming to build two dozen additional condominiums at the site and do away with a planned event center.
- “The project remains a 4+ star Dream Hotel and Resort and continues to server higher-end guests by providing a an honest and original resort program that features a modernist approach to the guestroom experience not seen in Palm Springs,” the owner wrote in a letter to the city justifying the proposed changes.
