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Business & Tech

Company Revives Plan to Build Hotel

Project in Moorpark may get back on track if finances can be worked out, according to the developer.

In late 2006, residents of Moorpark were excited to learn that the city might have its first hotel. Then the recession hit, and by 2009 plans for the hotel had stalled. Now the idea seems to have returned.

Back in 2006, Moorpark Hospitality Inc., located in Artesia, submitted a building permit request for a Fairfield Inn & Suites (a division of Marriott) to be located on White Sage Road, just east of the Highway 23 overpass.

The need seemed to be there: With business booming in the downtown area, the  closest hotels for visitors were in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village.

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The proposal was for a four-story hotel with Mediterranean architecture, similar to the new development that has gone into Moorpark’s east Los Angeles Avenue corridor. Room rates would range from $129 to $159 a night, depending on current market rates.

The idea was an immediate hit with Moorpark residents as well as the City Council. Once the hotel went into operation, the city hoped to recoup upwards of $300,000 per year in occupancy taxes. In the spring of 2007, the council voted to approve the project.

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According to Moorpark Principal Planner Joe Fiss, Moorpark Hospitality has recently taken the first steps toward reviving the proposal.

“They contacted me and requested information on resubmitting their grading and building permit,” said Fiss. “The next step is for a building plan check, but that’s up to the owners to do that and they have not yet submitted anything.”

According to Peter Bhakta, chief financial officer for Moorpark Hospitality, what really needs to happen is a reduction in expenses.

“No bank was willing to finance this project because it did not meet their debt coverage ratio,” Bhakta said.

He thinks the city could assist in reducing this debt ratio in one of two ways: by reducing the fees it charges or by waiving the transient tax (normally 10 percent of a nightly rate) for a specific time period. Bhakta suggested that eliminating the tax for the first five years the hotel is open might be reasonable.

Bhakta’s correspondence with Fiss was his way of initiating a new round of negotiations with the city, he said.

“I’m trying to say, let’s get this project up and running,” Bhakta said.

Bhakta, whose company already has $100,000 invested in fees and permit charges, believes that he and the city need to consider the hotel project as a long-term investment in which both can mutually benefit.

That is why, after several years of down time, he has reinitiated the dialogue to see how the city will respond.

“I want to know what the city thinks of my proposal,” he said. “If they want a hotel project, there has to be some give.”

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