“Boutique” motel gets planners’ OK

A MOTEL is one of the uses planned for Cottages Industries’ project in Garden Grove’s downtown area. The planning commission gave its approval on Thursday night (Shutterstock).

Plans for a “boutique” motel for the city’s downtown area got the green light from the Garden Grove Planning Commission Thursday night.

The members of the panel voted 6-1 – with Man Jordan Nguyen dissenting – to approve a site plan and a conditional use permit in the Cottage Industries project between Civic Center Drive on the west and 8th Street to the east, all north of Garden Grove Boulevard.

Under the site plan, nine existing homes and nine other structures would be converted to the motel project and six new commercial buildings constructed along with an “accessory trellis structure” in what’s called the Art Block.

The end result would be new commercial restaurant, office/retail and motel uses. The motel component would include 10 buildings in a bungalow style.

Overall, the proposal calls for three full-service restaurants, one full-service restaurant with dinner service only, three smaller “food stalls,” four retail uses, one office, one “personal service” space and 10 motel rooms or suites.

Most of the properties in the project area were originally homes and garages built in the period from 1914 to 1946 and were acquired by the city for affordable housing uses. They were sold to the developer for the Cottage Industries’ plan, which is said to seek to maintain the general architectural look and feel of the existing neighborhood.