Palm Springs, CA

The Orchid Tree Hotel project development has been up in the air for some time. Since 2014, the project located at 261 Belardo Road in Downtown Palm Springs has seen numerous delays and extensions. Now, the developer has filed a new proposal with the City of Palm Springs.

The proposal includes a 308 unit apartment complex with seven stories. Originally the developer, Weintraub Real Estate Group, had proposed and secured “full entitlements for a luxury 64 room Boutique Resort and Spa. Each room is designed to have its own private entry courtyard and large back patio with outdoor shower, providing the guests with a sense of serenity,” according to their website.

(Rendering of the orginal Orchid Tree Hotel project from Weintraub Real Estate Group)

Most recently in February at a Palm Springs City Council meeting, Richard Weintraub proposed potentially doing away with the hotel project in lieu of a residential apartment building. He was pressed by City Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein about a comment Weintraub made that if the city didn’t agree to certain financial incentives, he would build an affordable housing development.

Weintraub didn’t deny the comments and stated he believed he could build an affordable housing project under the “California emergency housing ordinance.” In May, a proposed apartment complex was submitted to the city.

When the potential plans were released to the public, many on social media bemoaned the size and scope of the project. One person wrote, “308 units and 7 story units in the Historic Tennis Club is not acceptable.” Another wrote, “That’s hideous. Why build such a greedy, ugly building? Obviously they crammed as much as they could on the lot, with no concern for the mountain views or aesthetics.” A third person wrote, “NO WAY. This is not downtown L.A. Please immediately communicate with and state your displeasure in the strongest terms to all commissions, planners, review committees. Not to mention in this historic neighborhood.”

The city council is set to take up this issue on Monday where a former agreement in 2021 between Weintraub and Palm Springs is being discussed for renegotiation and modification. In the current agreement, Weintraub was supposed to see a significant amount of future lodging tax revenue given generated by the hotel if he met deadlines and completed the project. Weintraub who has not met the proposed deadlines since the 2021 agreement has argued that market conditions have changed considerably making it difficult to get financing for a hotel.

The city hopes to get the hotel project back on track however, the devil is in the details and those details will be in the modified agreement between Weintraub’s development company and the City of Palm Springs. Residents will find out the outcome of the meeting on the Orchid Tree Hotel project Monday evening.