SF Business Times ‐ 10/4/18 Boutique hotel opens in Menlo Park, a stone's throw from HQ

By Emily Fancher – Deputy Managing Editor, San Francisco Business Times

A former Shell gas station on El Camino has been transformed into the Park James Hotel, a 61‐ room boutique property. The hotel is just a stone’s throw from Sand Hill Road in one direction and Facebook's headquarters in the other.

The hotel, and its restaurant, Oak + Violet, opened a few weeks ago at 1400 El Camino Real to serve business travelers during the week who are often frantically searching for a room as San Mateo County hotels quickly fill up. On weekends, the hotel, which is a five‐minute walk from downtown, is serving visitors to and other leisure guests.

The hotel opens as developers rush to cater to the growth from Facebook in the area, which has more than 10,000 employees down the road. The Hotel Nia opened earlier this year next to the social media giant’s headquarters. Four hotels are in the pipeline in neighboring Palo Alto and one in Redwood City.

At the Menlo Park site, Portola Valley‐based developer Pollack Finance Group beat out 10 other bidders in 2015 for the property and assembled the team of Hornberger + Worstell to design the hotel and Build Group to construct it. Pollock tapped into city officials’ wish for a boutique hotel on the site to boost city coffers from hotel taxes. But the project was also personal for developer Jeff Pollack, who grew up and lives nearby.

“Pollack’s main focus is commercial office space, but being locals, they saw a need here,” said General Manager Weston Spiegl. “It wasn’t just another investment, if you will. This is really what Menlo needed and (the project) had a lot of passion” behind it.

Technology is — not surprisingly — a focus, with guests checking in and getting room “keys” with their phones and ordering room service via in‐room tablets.

The hotel’s design by Parisa O’Connell is “ craft,” a theme carried through its food and beverage program. Spiegl said he’s focused on the details for guests. For example, rooms offer five‐step instructions for guests to make their own Ritual Coffee pour‐over drinks.

The idea of slow pour‐over drinks and other touches is to get guests in go‐go to slow down. Pollack said that on a trip to Ireland he was struck by the good nature of the people and the time they take to talk to visitors. He wanted the hospitality at the hotel, which is

1 operated by the Broughton Group, to reflect that. To that end, the designers built space for folks to unwind and connect at the hotel, including a sprawling indoor/outdoor bar that opens to a courtyard anchored by an Oak tree, the symbol of Menlo Park.

“We created a beautiful experience (for the guests),” Pollack added. “The hotel has a heart and soul.”

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