Petaluma committee approves 4-story EKN hotel at downtown gateway with design conditions

The Historic and Cultural Preservation Committee voted unanimously on Feb. 24 to approve a four-story hotel proposed by EKN Development at 2 Petaluma Boulevard South, adopting several conditions to refine visible façades and public art as the project moves to building permit review.

Staff recommended approval, saying the project complies with the city's HBAR/SPAR findings, the Petaluma Historic Commercial District Design Guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. Brian Oh, Petaluma's director of community and economic development, told the committee the project has been through multiple hearings over three years and that staff's review concluded it's in conformance with applicable regulations.

The project as approved is a roughly 34,000-square-foot, four-story building with about 56 guest rooms, ground-floor restaurants, a fourth-floor restaurant and a basement bar (described in project materials as a 'speakeasy'). The applicant plans valet operations with short-term storage for roughly 12'0 cars and a new bus stop and shelter on Petaluma Boulevard as part of the public-realm improvements. Staff estimated construction valuation at about $22 million, with a city public-art obligation of 1% (approximately $225,000 if paid as a fee) and projected $33 million in transit-occupancy tax revenue over 30 years.

Why it matters: The site has been vacant since about 2010 and lies partially within the Petaluma Downtown Historic Commercial District. Staff and the city's consultants framed the proposal as infill that returns a long-standing commercial parcel to active use while attempting to respect the…