New Hotel, Residential Homes Project Begins to Sprout

The 8.62 acre parcel at Brookhurst St. and Slater Ave. has been staked, cleared and rough graded. Temporary utilities have been installed. The land has been excavated, the footings and foundation poured and plumbing, sewers and water taps are in place.

The SafeCo building, a sentimental landmark for residents despite being vacant the past seven years, no longer is there. The only remnants remaining were a small portion of the Coastline Community College building and a storage unit used by the Fountain Valley Police Department.

Now, with the next step—framing—residents, neighbors and the community of Fountain Valley can begin to picture how the Civic Center Specific Plan Project—now known as the Ayres Hotel and Solano Walk residential homes—is taking shape.

The hotel-residential home project was unanimously approved (with one abstain) by the Fountain Valley City Council on March 6 following more than 25 revisions in 18 months by new home builders The Olson Company of Seal Beach. But the project was opposed throughout the process by a couple dozen nearby residents, who were concerned about increases in traffic, parking, noise and pollution, as well as the close proximity of the townhomes and hotel to their single-story dwellings.

The Olson Company met with the community 17 times over that period to listen to residents and come up with a master plan that would adequately addresses most of their concerns.

The 27 single-family, two-story homes and 61 two-story and three-story townhomes will take at least a couple years to be completed. The four-story, 124-room Ayres Hotel will take 12-16 months to be completed, according to Jana Beekman, project manager for Ayres.