Boutique hotel to rise near Apple Park
CUPERTINO — Business travelers to Apple Park in Cupertino may get a new place to stay, after the Planning Commission approved a 185-room boutique hotel with a restaurant and rooftop bar across from the Apple campus.
The owner of the Cupertino Village shopping center, New York-based Kimco Realty, has proposed building the five-story hotel next to two existing hotels and a busy shopping center that features an Asian grocery store and restaurants.
The upscale hotel would cater to business travelers to the 175-acre Apple campus, right across North Wolfe Road, who could walk or bike to the hotel from the campus.
“It’ll be the nicest hotel in Cupertino,” Michael Stroh, senior director of development for Kimco, told the Planning Commission.
The project would require relocating the Duke of Edinburgh pub to a different suite in the shopping center and demolishing two buildings to make way for the hotel, which would also have a 206-spot underground parking garage.
Kimco also made changes to the project based on feedback from Apple, which was concerned about “prying eyes” from the 60-foot hotel, Stroh said. Special textured glass windows would make photography from a hotel window more difficult and a row of 70-foot ash trees will shield the hotel’s view of Apple Park.
“The actual Apple building is 900 feet from our building, so it’s not like we were very close, but we wanted to respect [their] privacy,” Stroh said.
The Planning Commission, with Commissioner Alan Takahashi absent, unanimously approved a set of permits for the project. It also approved a development agreement under which the hotel would agree to provide an airport shuttle for guests, provide conference rooms for nonprofit and city use, and offer internships to local students.
The commission also approved a general plan amendment for the project, which was required because the city has already met limits for the amount of hotel rooms allowed.
Once built, the hotel is estimated to generate up to $1.7 million a year in hotel bed taxes.
An operator for the hotel and restaurant has not been identified yet. Construction is expected to take 24 to 30 months, Stroh said.
Contact Thy Vo at tvo@bayareanewsgroup.com.