Upcoming Events
    Classic Residence by Hyatt

    Hyatt Plans Senior Living for Los Gatos Lodge

    7 stories over underground parking sketched

    By Alastair Dallas 09/21/07 7:30 pm [3,124]
    View 2 responsesPrint-friendly version

    Classic Residence by Hyatt, owner and operator of "luxury senior living communities" has notified Los Gatos of its plans to replace the nearly 50-year-old Los Gatos Lodge with a landscaped complex of buildings, some of them seven stories above underground parking, encompassing 303 residences and 70 "care center units" on the 8.5 acre site.

    "I want to personally inform you of our hope and intention to create one of the nation's finest luxury senior living communities here in the Town of Los Gatos," Classic Residence by Hyatt President Randal Richardson wrote to the Los Gatos Community Development department. Classic Residence, like Hyatt Hotels, is based in Chicago and run by a member of the Pritzker family. Richardson said that the company plans to be "extremely sensitive" to the concerns of the community during the planning process.

    Classic Residence in Palo Alto
    (courtesy The Steinberg Group)

    Classic Residence will take advantage of the town's Community Development Advisory Committee to present its plans in more detail to a committee comprised of members of the Planning Commission, Community Development staff, and the Town Council. The CDAC review is scheduled for Oct. 10.

    Richardson's letter of Aug. 17 included several color renderings of a pleasant grouping of buildings designed by the Steinberg Group of San Jose. Steinberg also designed the Classic Residence across from Stanford Shopping Center, which Richardson calls their local "flagship." The Hwy. 9 property is not intended to be as large as Palo Alto.

    Classic Residence is an upscale CCRC--a continuing care retirement community--with a mix of independent living, nursing, "memory support," and assisted living units.

    Richardson stated that Classic Residence by Hyatt has "entered into a purchase and sale agreement" with Los Gatos Lodge, LLC, based in Half Moon Bay. Whether that means that money has changed hands or that Classic owns anything more than an option was not immediately clear. Planning Commissioner Tom O'Donnell expressed his confusion over the letter at the Sept. 12 meeting, during a public hearing about plans for the property across the street from the Lodge.

    The Los Gatos Lodge contains 128 rooms in several 2-story buildings, along with 5,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. The Lodge opened in 1958 and currently provides meeting space for the town's five service clubs--Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Morning Rotary and Optimists--as well as several other organizations, such as the Holiday Parade committee.

    What do you think?

    Enter your comments in the box below, then click Respond. You'll be asked to log in before your response is published.

     Go to top
    Mary Pope-Handy 09/22/07 10:13 am
    I think this is good news overall - though 7 stories is clearly too tall! Our area does not have enough choices for seniors. Also I think it's very important that facilities offer varying levels of care so that as one ages and needs increase, it is not necessary to move to a whole new campus and establish all new relationships. My grandparents had to move and move again because they began at a place that did not offer the various levels of care. And each move was more difficult than the one before.

    Then the question becomes where will all of these clubs now meet if they cannot use the Los Gatos Lodge? Perhaps the other hotels in the area, such as the Toll House?
    (Edited 09/22/07 9:14 am)

    Don Wolf 09/23/07 8:28 pm
    I think the proposal has merit, but why only 7 stories? We need much more density to make living in Los Gatos more affordable and here is an application which does not materiely impact traffic. We should support the proposal whole heartedly, especially if the density were increased by 50%.