On January 17, the Los Angeles City Council passed a motion 12-1 to appeal the South LA Planning Commission’s decision to deny a permit for the construction of a new hotel. Since the passing, many local residents are left concerned as to how the possible new project will affect their lives.
Many community members argue that the land should remain public. They say this lot can be used to build affordable housing. Additionally, there has been no initiative from the city to provide jobs for local community members through this project.
The lot used to be a cherished community library; however, in 2010 the library closed, leaving the lot empty for 13 years. In 2019, the City Council took action, entering into a controversial agreement with a developer to build a Marriott hotel on the site.
This would cause even more traffic and pollution in a predominantly Black and brown area, which has led many people to call out Marriott for gentrifying the area.
Members of United Neighbors in Defense Against Displacement, or UNIDAD, have outwardly rejected the “Hotel Project,” as their mission is “to reverse these harms by promoting healthy and equitable neighborhoods through planning and land use that is rooted in community.”
UNIDAD wrote in their January 2023 letter to the L.A. City Council that the hotel would take up space in the community that could otherwise be used as affordable housing.
In the letter they state, “Despite repeated promises from the City that the land would be used for affordable housing and other community serving purposes, the City abruptly reversed course with no explanation in 2019 when it selected the current developer, Henry Fan of Bethune Hotel Ventures, LLC (”the Developer”), to build the Hotel Project.”
Maria Patiño Gutierrez, Director of Policy and Research Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, stated in conjunction with UNIDAD that, “The main issue that we have is the use of public land. A hotel being built on public land when we’re in a housing crisis … There’s a preschool directly next door to the proposed hotel … It literally shares a fence. They always make us have to choose [between jobs or housing]. We don’t think it should be that way. However, there is no clear indication about the process for a local like if there will be local hiring.”
Gutierrez said that the use of public land to build hotels in order to help non-Angelenos during the 2028 Summer Olympics, which is being held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, ignores the long term impacts on displacement in the community.
There are also concerns about the nature of the site as the Los Angeles Sanitation Department published that the lot was a former gas station before it was redeveloped into the Bethune Library. The Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) is to conduct a Phase II ESA to determine if contamination is present. Future redevelopment use would have been affordable housing with retail and commercial use.
While this is no longer being used for affordable housing, Gutierrez fears the contamination will create extra pollution in the community. ”The developer said, ‘Oh, we just have to take out a certain layer of dirt,’” Gutierrez said.
Amongst all of these concerns, Katie McKeon, staff attorney for Public Counsel, said that the biggest issue is the city’s handling of this proposed project.
“I think the biggest concern is that this city is choosing to sell it to a private developer who will be operating a hotel that caters to tourists and not to local residents,” McKeon said. “We have a massive housing crisis in our city right now, and we need to use all of the available tools that we have in order to make a dent in that housing crisis. Publicly owned land that the city controls and can get affordable housing development built on quickly is really, really important to making a dent in that housing crisis.”
The council took a final vote today near 11:30 a.m. in a city council meeting inside the John Ferraro Council Chamber.
After moving the topic to a special vote and a series of public hearings with numerous stakeholders and community members about the impact the hotel will have within the eighth district, the council voted 10 to 1 to approve the development of a Marriott Hotel on Vermont Avenue.
The majority of speakers spoke in favor of the construction of the hotel. They expressed the economic benefits that surrounding small businesses will receive as a result of the foot traffic that Marriott estimates the hotel will bring.
One native from the area commented during the public hearings that the hotel is a step into the right direction of improvement and that several jobs will be created as a result, a benefit especially for younger generations.
Although the debate about the intentions of the developers have been questioned, speakers stressed that these developers are “not outsiders” and they have been role models for the community — actively teaching business classes and donating computers to schools. The hotel is set to dedicate the first two floors to communal usage with 7,000 square feet of recreational space open to the public, according to information from the Council meeting.
A few of the remaining speakers however, disagreed and argued that affordable housing should be prioritized in South L.A., rejecting the notion of a construction for primarily commercial purposes.
Despite the possibility for jobs, opposing speakers rebutted that the near minimum wage salary would not be enough to sustain a proper living for those workers and their families residing nearby.
Now that the development has been approved, the Marriott will be located right next to USC at 3685 Vermont Ave. The size of the hotel will cover 34,000 square feet and stand seven stories tall.