Best Western Plans Revived in Jefferson Park

An empty lot in Jefferson Park is poised to become the site of a new hotel.

Property owner Hitendra Patel filed plans with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to build a Best Western hotel at 2645 South Western Avenue, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The application calls for a three-story, 59-room lodging property with on-site parking for 46 vehicles. Documents related to the project depict a C-shaped building in Streamline Moderne style, similar to the historic Coca-Cola building in downtown Los Angeles, with designs handled by Studio M+A.

Patel has pursued construction at the site before. The developer previously applied to build a Best Western hotel at the site but with a bigger footprint at 77 guest rooms, according to Urbanize. Building permits for that project were issued for 2020 and clearing work was done at the site, though no actual construction work ever got off the ground.

The site of the planned hotel is on a portion of Western Avenue set to see an uptick in foot traffic as CIM Group moves forward with residential developments there. At 3101 Western Avenue, the developer is planning to construct a five-story mixed-use building with 40 apartments above 2,050 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 29-car garage. Five of the units would be deed-restricted as affordable housing.

A few years ago CIM also completed another mixed-use property at 2221 South Western Avenue, consisting of a five-story building with 48 apartments above ground-floor commercial space and a basement garage. Those residences are part of CIM’s redevelopment of the former Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center campus, which started with the conversion of the former hospital building into 60 apartments and grew to include developments including plans for a 364-unit apartment and retail building at 2211 South Western Avenue complete with 70,000 square feet of retail space. — Chris Malone Méndez