Property planned for new La Jolla hotel gets ‘heritage structure’ status

Plans for a new hotel in La Jolla’s Village cleared a big hurdle this week when the San Diego Historical Resources Board granted the Prospect Street property “heritage structure” status. The designation qualifies the site for a special use permit that would allow the plans to deviate from the land-use and density requirements of the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance, subject to further project review by the HRB.

The proposal would convert the 16,683-square-foot building at 484 Prospect into a 20-room hotel. The plan, led by the same team that opened the Orli Hotel in 2022 at 7753 Draper Ave., intends to leave the exterior largely intact but renovate the interior to become lodging.

According to a San Diego Planning Department report, the building at 484 Prospect was constructed in 1925 as nurses’ housing for the original Scripps Memorial Hospital nearby. At the time of the report in 2010, it was being used for commercial offices. Real estate websites now describe it as a single-family home. 

The heritage structure designation was approved on the HRB consent agenda during its Sept. 25 meeting, meaning there was no presentation or discussion.

A planned construction timeline following the designation was not immediately available.

The most recent La Jolla buildings to be deemed heritage structures by the HRB are the Green Dragon Colony site at 1258-1274 Prospect St. in 1996 and Cove Cottage at 1043 Coast Blvd. South in 1997, according to a city of San Diego report. 

According to the HRB, a special use permit may be applied for when a structure is being preserved and the proposed reuse is not consistent with requirements of the Planned District Ordinance. A hotel would not be allowed there unless the site is designated as a heritage structure. 

During previous local reviews of the new hotel project, applicant representative Claude Anthony Marengo of La Jolla-based Marengo Morton Architects said the heritage structure designation pertains to a property that might not qualify as historic but is “worthy of being protected.”

The La Jolla Planned District Ordinance Committee supported the plan for the hotel during its June 9 meeting. La Jolla’s Development Permit Review Committee and Traffic & Transportation Board followed suit later that month.   

Though the proposed hotel’s look and branding have not been confirmed, Orli co-owner and new project applicant Max Waitt previously told the La Jolla Light that the intent is to “evoke a luxury and charm similar to the Orli” and “certainly be a sister property.”

He said the team would take a similar approach to the renovation as it did with the Orli.

The Draper Avenue property that became the Orli Hotel is a 6,110-square-foot historically designated former bed-and-breakfast inn designed by architect Irving Gill and built in 1913 for the Kautz family. When Waitt’s team renovated it, it touted the importance of retaining Gill’s signature features.

Last year, the renovation won a La Jolla Historical Society Jewel Award for rehabilitation of a non-residential structure.