Dawn of a new ray: Venice community backing proposal for environmentally sensitive hotel.

VENICE -- long known for its carefree style but now an enclave with some multi1million dollar homes--is on its way to getting its first upscale hotel.

The Ambrose Group, which built a 77-room hotel in Santa Monica three years ago, is proposing a 57-room boutique replete with a rooftop pool and small spa in the heart of the Abbot Kinney shopping district.

And in a sign of just how much has changed in this once Bohemian neighborhood, the area's influential neighborhood council last week gave the 901 Abbot Kinney Blvd. project a unanimous thumbs up.

"What it gives back to the community is incredible," said Challis Macpherson, a member of the council, an advisory body to the L.A. City Planning Commission and the local City Council office. Of course, Venice being Venice, this won't be your average high-end boutique. The 48,500-square-foot hotel will have a simple name: Ray, without the article "the." It is planned for the site of famed furniture makers Charles and Ray Eames' former design and manufacturing warehouse. Elements of the structure and its artifacts will be incorporated into the lodging, said Deirdre Wallace, president of the Ambrose Group.

Moreover, there are plans to make the hotel meet one of the highest environmental design standards through such touches as organic sheets, water-efficient toilets and recycled building materials. Then there's a planned surf shop.

"It is about historical preservation, free space, public art, and it's green," is how Macpherson puts it.

It's also about location, location, location.

Explosive growth

Just a few miles to the north, Santa Monica has seen a boom of hotel construction over the past several years, including the Viceroy Hotel and the renovated Casa del Mar. However, the only hotel options in Venice have been more downscale: The Cadillac Hotel and the Best Western Marina Pacific Hotel and Suites.

Blame it on the difficulty developers have long had getting their projects approved in Venice.

"We frown on chain stores and cookie cutter businesses and Deirdre has been able to handle both sides of the ball," said Philip Fracassi, co-owner of Equator Books, located about four blocks from the proposed hotel. "(Deirdre) has been able to appease the purists and bring adrenaline to the business side of the area."

Not so well embraced was a proposed hotel, the Pali House, which another developer is planning for a site directly across from Ray.

Pali House received the full, traditional Venice scrutiny. The proposed long-stay hotel at 812 Main St. would include 43 rooms, but citing concerns over the hotel's parking arrangements, the neighborhood council's land use and planning committee passed a resolution on May 24 that rejected the hotel plans.

On a 6-2 vote, the committee urged Pali House's developer, Palisades Development Group LLC, to present a redesigned project to the neighborhood council, which, though only an advisory body, is trusted by city planners as a key indicator of local support.

Matt Fisher, president of Palisades Development said that his company is currently working on entitlements for the property, and is "in process of moving forward."

Contrast that with Ray. Not only has the neighborhood council approved it, but the land use committee--with a reputation of being a tough crowd to please-voted for it on July 26, despite the hotel exceeding the 35-foot height limit by 10 feet in parts. In the past, other projects have been rejected outright for exceeding the limit.

"I have to say I had to think twice about it because I am here to uphold the code," said Colette Bailey, a member of the land use committee, who admitted the environmentally-friendly aspects of the hotel won her over. "Venice is about doing these cutting edge architecture projects and it would be a shame to not approve it."

Ray's architect, Hagy Belzberg, designed the building to include brickwork from the Eames warehouse. About one-third to half of the old warehouse is to be preserved.

"The building itself has gone through several renovations since the Eameses left and we are trying to bring the front warehouse space back to the original feel," Belzberg said. "The space is going to be more representative of what it was when the Eameses were there."

The Eameses began using the space in the 1950s, and operated there for several decades before selling the property. Though the Eameses created the famous Eames Lounge Chair and other noteworthy designs at the site, the building has been altered in the past and is thus not protected from changes or demolition.

Wallace said that project plans will be submitted to the city for approval in about six months. The goal is to break ground in spring 2007 with the hotel opening up just one year later.