PALO ALTO, CA— According to a recent report in San Jose Mercury News, Four Seasons is considering East Palo Alto as a site for one of its luxury hotels. Sources say an agreement between developers handling the East Palo Alto site— a dirt plot of land off Highway 101— and Four Seasons could be signed within the next few days. Four Seasons officials declined to comment, but the hotel chain has a marketing study of the site under way. According to the paper, the site being considered is part of a $260 million redevelopment project known as University Circle. The project plan, approved by the city council in 1998, calls for three office buildings and a business class hotel. Construction on two of the office buildings began in December. They are expected to be occupied by two prominent law firms. A market study of the East Palo Alto site is being conducted by PKF Consulting, an international firm of industry specialists and appraisers, for Four Seasons, said the paper. The study is expected to be completed and turned in to the Toronto-based hotel chain in another week or two, said PKF. Having a luxury hotel would raise the profile of East Palo Alto, a community of color often derided by outsiders, said the San Jose Mercury News. The Four Seasons would be on the site of a former mom-and-pop retail district known as Whiskey Gulch. About a year ago, dozens of beauty shops, stores, eateries and non-profit organizations were cleared out and torn down to make way for the new University Circle development.
