An initial study recently published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning offers a closer look at plans for a new hotel just west of the I-405 freeway in Encino.

View looking northwest from Ventura BoulevardWATG

DKN Hotels, an Irvine-based company specializing in hotel properties, is pursuing city approvals to redevelop a 1960s era motel at 15485 Ventura Boulevard to make way for a new AC Hotel by Marriott.  The proposed project would replace the existing 70-room complex with a new six-story edifice featuring 159 guest rooms, commercial space, and semi-subterranean parking for 164 vehicles.

WATG is designing the new AC Hotel, which would stand nearly 75 feet in height.  Renderings depict a contemporary podium-type building clad in cement plaster, porcelain, tile, and brick veneer.  A setback above the hotel's second floor would be used as space for a pool and amenity deck, while another setback on the upper floor would provide an outdoor terrace for a bar.

Pending approvals of entitlements by the City of Los Angeles, construction is expected to occur over an approximately 22-month period.

View looking northeast from Ventura BoulevardWATG

The Ventura Boulevard project, branded as the AC Hotel by Marriott Sherman Oaks, is one of a handful of AC-branded hotels in development in Los Angeles County.  DKN is currently planning a second AC Hotel in Downtown Burbank, and others in El Segundo, Beverly Grove, and Downtown Los Angeles by different entities.

The development site sits less than a half-mile southwest of the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Camarillo Street, where developer IMT Residential is planning a mixed-use apartment complex featuring more than 300 residential units.