Coffee shop and hotel project win OKs

Approvals were given Wednesday night to a pair of high-profile projects in Garden Grove and Westminster.

The Garden Grove City Council gave its backing to a revised development agreement – already approved by the planning commission ­­– with Investel Garden Resorts, LLC to build three hotels with 769 rooms combined on a 4.3 acre site on the east side of Harbor Boulevard, north of Twintree Lane.

The project will also include nearly 40,000 square feet of conference/meeting banquet space, nearly 37,000 square feet of restaurant/retail/entertainment space and about 24,000 square feet of hotel restaurant space.

The vote was 6-0, with Councilman Phat Bui absent.

Also on Wednesday, the Westminster Planning Commission narrowly approved a proposal to build a 2000-square foot, 24-hour coffee shop on Beach Boulevard just south of Westminster Boulevard. The vote was 3-1 in favor, with one member absent.

The commission’s approval came with the condition that the developer – Beachminster LLC of Torrance – meet with city staff to bring the project’s design more in line with guidelines for the Civic Center area. The developers agreed.

The new facility – likely to be a Starbucks – will be located in the Keystone Square, originally built with three structures featuring Old English/Tudor style architecture. According to Soroosh Rahbari, the city’s community development director, the new building won’t have to be identical to that style, but should retain enough design characteristics to be consistent with its neighbors.