M ILNER H OTEL 813 815 S. F LOWER S T . C ONDITIONAL U SE A - PDF document

M ILNER H OTEL 813 – 815 S. F LOWER S T . C ONDITIONAL U SE A TTACHMENT “A” Requested Action The Applicant, 813 South Flower Street Associates, LLC (“Applicant”), is requesting a Conditional Use, pursuant to LAMC §12.24-W.1, to allow the sale and dispensing of a full-line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption, in conjunction with a hotel restaurant within an existing 12-story, 71,686 square- foot hotel. The proposed restaurant café with ancillary café bar and lounge areas, totals 9,645 square feet and 200 seats, interior and exterior; which includes the 110 square foot, 12-seat sidewalk patio fronting Flower Street. Episodic use of a disc jockey or live musical entertainment on a 71 square foot stage is requested for the second floor lounge area; and one arcade game and an area for darts, foosball and ping- pong is proposed for the basement café bar. There is no dancing, alcohol room service or use of hotel mini-bars requested. Project Description 813 South Flower Street Associates, LLC proposes the expansion of alcohol service to portions of the basement, ground floor, partial second floor and rooftop; and with episodic use of a DJ/live entertainment, limited to a 71 square foot stage on the second floor and one video game and the above-described basement recreational uses, as follows: Area Floor Area Live Patron Seating (SF) Entertainment Dancing Interior Exterior Total Gr. fl. Restaurant 3,469 none none 31 12 43 cafe 2 nd floor café lounge 461 Live 17 17 Entertainment/DJ 71 sq. ft. stage Basement café bar 1,890 none 28 0 28 Rooftop café bar 3,825 none none 112 0 112 Guest rooms No alcohol N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A room service or in-room mini bars TOTAL 9,645 71 sq. ft. none 188 12 200 While the existing hotel is 71,686 square feet, upon completion, the hotel will achieve a maximum area of 70,409 due to the removal of non-compliant appendage structures and addition of seismic shear walls in accordance with the LA City Non-Ductile Concrete Retrofit Program. Property Description The subject property consists of one lot and is approximately 7,603 square feet. It is developed with a 12- story, approximately 71,616 square-foot hotel with approximately 50 feet of frontage along Flower Street and 50 feet of frontage along a 20-foot wide alley in the rear. The building covers almost 100-percent of the lot and does not and has never had any on-site parking. From available records, it appears the Attachment A v11.docx

Ritz Milner Hotel 813 – 815 S. Flower St. Conditional Use Attachment “A” Page 2 building permit for the original construction of the hotel was issued in 1923 and therefore, before any off- street parking would have been required. The subject property is served by Metro lines 81, 442, and 460 and the Downtown Dash line. As is customary in most areas of Downtown, there are several public parking lots within a one-block walking distance of the subject property. Project Description The Applicant is seeking a new CUP for ancillary alcohol rights in connection with a hotel restaurant, which includes café bar and lounge areas, totaling both interior and exterior, 9,645 square feet and 200 seats. The alcohol service areas span 20% of the four levels containing restaurant uses. Overall, the alcohol service areas span just 7% of the building envelope. The new CUB application request will be in conjunction with an ABC restaurant Type 47 license and would seek to expand on-site alcohol sales to portions of the basement, ground floor, partial second floor and rooftop. A revocable permit will be applied for relating to use of the public sidewalk for the outdoor sidewalk patio seating. There will be no alcohol service to the rooms. The hotel does not and will not provide food or alcohol room service and the rooms will not feature a mini-bar cabinet with alcohol. The alcohol request is eligible for several categorical exemptions (CE) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as discussed in the proposed CEQA findings. There is an existing kitchen which will be modernized and expanded. The hotel restaurant, lounge and café bars will be run by the hotel operator, a highly experienced hotelier. Food will always be available in the lounge and café bars to help maintain alcohol as an ancillary use to the restaurant Type 47 use. The restaurant will be run by the same operator as the hotel. Hotel hours of operation will be 24 hours per day, consistent with prevailing hospitality industry standards. Alcohol service hours will be from 7 am – 2 am daily. The proposed rooftop café lounge includes the activation of the rooftop, including creative re-use of existing rooftop utility structures for hospitality use. The seating includes both covered and uncovered outdoor casual dining seating, all situated behind a 20 foot high rooftop building tall wall. The 20 foot high tall wall, which fronts Flower Street, will serve as a physical to prevent noise projection. There is one residential project across the street from and southeast of the subject site. There is no nearby residential development immediately north, south or west of the subject property. The rooftop will not include public dancing or live entertainment. The uncovered outdoor rooftop seating is allowed, consistent with Zoning Administrator Interpretation ZAI 1808, which specifies that outdoor dining is permitted, roofed or unroofed, at any levels above the ground floor, incidental to an eating establishment. Per Ordinance 165,403, also intended to incentivize outdoor dining use, unroofed areas do not count for, net increase floor area. (See further Section `12.03, Outdoor Dining and Eating Areas-Definition, Zoning Manual, page 37.)

Ritz Milner Hotel 813 – 815 S. Flower St. Conditional Use Attachment “A” Page 3 The subject structure was originally developed to cover the parcel area. There never was parking on site. There is no parking planned on site or off-site. There is new additional square footage of new construction, totaling 415 square feet of covered space that would otherwise be considered to trigger added parking. However, pursuant to the Central Business District parking incentives Ordinance, parking for new retail/commercial is not triggered until there is 7,500 square feet of such new construction retail/commercial. And after the 7,500 square foot threshold, parking for new space is limited to one space per thousand. Therefore, the 415 square feet of new space does not meet the threshold standard to require the addition of an off-site parking space requirement. Further, separate from zoning regulations, relating to parking use, hotel employees have a history of not relying on single vehicular transportation to the site. And the hotel has a proven history of its guests not relying on cars. In addition, Applicant is providing parking for four bikes on site. Applicant is reviewing now whether and if it intends to provide valet parking at the Flower Street curbside, based on its experience with patron’s non-reliance on individual car usage, instead utilizing car-ride services, e.g. Uber and Lyft. Applicant is an experienced boutique hotelier and hotel developer, with over 35 years’ experience. Its hotel parent company operates 30 boutique hotels. Its hotel business model and specific plans for the Ritz Milner Hotel are to operate a hotel with reasonable room rate pricing and less emphasis on alcohol or alcohol-fueled uses such as public dancing, than many of its competitors. This is exemplified in part by the fact that the Milner will not provide room service, nor does it provide in-room mini-bar cabinets with alcohol. The Milner Hotel has been in continuous operation as a hotel since its opening. Preceding the City’s 1984 CUB requirement, alcohol sales have historically been offered in connection with the hotel. The hotel has historically maintained a kitchen at the premises and operated a café restaurant with food and alcohol service. The original hotel café opened in 1923 when the hotel first opened. In 1964, another restaurant, now closed, opened on the third floor. Presently, there is a 2015-approved CUB for a bar use. However, Applicant subsequently obtained and has maintained an ABC Type 47 license for a restaurant use. The hotel has been in operation since its opening in the early 20 th Century and has offered the amenity of alcoholic beverages at least since 1970, without incident. There is no available record of code or operating violations relating to the Hotel or the historic alcohol and food service. Pursuant to and as confirmed by the Planning ZI memo issued by Alan Bell on February 27, 2014, and pursuant to LAMC Section 12.22.A 18, the hotel does not require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for hotel use and operations. Further the hotel restaurant use is a by-right use. A CUP on the premises is required solely for alcohol use. Circulation Flower Street, adjoining the subject property to the south, is a Modified Avenue II Street with a designated 90-foot right-of-way width. It is improved with curb, gutter and sidewalk.