Sausalito City Council Meeting{subdivision/condominium conversion-bicycle and pedestrian}>

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Sausalito City Council
The City Council members are elected at large; the Mayor is selected, annually, by a vote amongst the Councilmembers themselves. At the appropriate time, ...
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Sausalito City Hall at 420 Litho St.

The Sausalito City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday (related article further down) to consider extending a moratorium on subdivision or condominium conversion of existing hotels and motels.

The council also will consider appointments to the bicycle and pedestrian task force and citizens oversight committee liaison.

Sausalito hits brakes on Casa Madrona condo conversion move
Don Speich
Article Launched: 06/27/2007 05:50:59 PM PDT

A bid by owners of the Casa Madrona hotel to convert the historic downtown builidng into a condominium complex has prompted Sausalito officials to impose a 45-day condo-conversion moratorium.

Officials said the moratorium - which could be extended for up to two years - is needed because the city does not have a condo conversion ordinance that assures city safety, code and other requirements are met. The moratorium does not apply to conversions of apartments to condominiums.

City Council members, who unanimously approved the moratorium, said they're also concerned that Sausalito could lose revenue from its 12 percent hotel room tax, expected to generate $950,000, or about 8 percent, of the city's $12.5 million budget in the next fiscal year.

With 63 rooms, the Casa Madrona at 801 Bridgeway is Sausalito's largest hotel and accounts for "a significant" amount of the total hotel tax, said Louise Ho, Sausalito's chief financial officer.

Ho said she could not release a specific figure for how much revenue Casa Madrona's room tax generates. The use of the city's hotel tax is determined by a city Hospitality and Business Development Committee comprising, among others, representatives of the city's hotels.

Mayor Mike Kelly
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said the financial impact of a Casa Madrona conversion remains unclear.

If the condos are sold as time-shares, the city probably could continue to impose the hotel tax because the rooms effectively would be rented as if part of a hotel or motel, he said.

Councilman Paul Albritton said that if sold to individuals to be used as residences, the city would receive sales tax when the condo is sold and yearly property tax from condo owners.

In the end, the conversion could be a wash in terms of its impact on the city's coffers, officials said. But specific information is scant because the Casa Madrona owners have not disclosed details of what they have in mind, they said.

A spokesman for West Paces Hotel Management Group LLC of Chicago, which manages the Casa Madrona, could not be reached for comment.

The roots of the Casa Madrona, which in architecture and ambiance is reminiscent of the French and Italian rivieras, stretch back to 1885, when it was a private mansion constructed by the W.G. Barrett family of San Francisco and used as a summer home.

It was sold and converted around the turn of the century into a hotel, along with a few cottages. It was renovated in the 1980s and a new section was added, featuring 32 new Victorian-style rooms, ranging in size from 600 to 750 square feet.

The hotel was sold in 2005 to a group of partners from around the country under the name of Casa Madrona LLC. They added 31 upscale rooms connected by series of stairs and hallways to the Victorian section. They also leased the space that used to house the Village Faire to a restaurant, Poggio. City officials said the restaurant is not expected to be affected if the hotel is converted to condominiums.

Hotel room rates range from about $159 to $399 a day, with the least expensive typically not having a view of the bay. All rooms have balconies and many have views of San Francisco and Angel Island and Richardson Bay.

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich [at] marinij.com

Read more Sausalito/Marin City stories at the IJ's Sausalito/Marin City page.
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Sausalito slows hotel's switch to condos
Don Speich
Article Launched: 06/28/2007 01:02:00 AM PDT

A bid by owners of the Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa to convert the historic downtown building into a condominium complex has prompted Sausalito officials to impose a 45-day condo-conversion moratorium.

Officials said the moratorium - which could be extended for up to two years - is needed because the city does not have a condo conversion ordinance that assures city safety, code and other requirements are met. The moratorium does not apply to conversions of apartments to condominiums.

City Council members, who unanimously approved the moratorium, said they're also concerned that Sausalito could lose revenue from its 12 percent hotel room tax, expected to generate $950,000, or about 8 percent, of the city's $12.5 million budget in the next fiscal year.

With 63 rooms, the Casa Madrona at 801 Bridgeway is Sausalito's largest hotel and accounts for "a significant" amount of the total hotel tax, said Louise Ho, Sausalito's chief financial officer.

Ho said she could not release a specific figure for how much revenue Casa Madrona's room tax generates. The use of the city's hotel tax is determined by a city Hospitality and Business Development Committee comprising, among others, representatives of the city's hotels.

Mayor Mike
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Kelly said the financial impact of a Casa Madrona conversion remains unclear.

If the condos are sold as time-shares, the city probably could continue to impose the hotel tax because the rooms effectively would be rented as if part of a hotel or motel, he said.

Councilman Paul Albritton said that if sold to individuals to be used as residences, the city would receive sales tax when the condo is sold and yearly property tax from condo owners.

In the end, the conversion could be a wash in terms of its impact on the city's coffers, officials said. But specific information is scant because the Casa Madrona owners have not disclosed details of what they have in mind, they said.

A spokesman for West Paces Hotel Management Group LLC of Chicago, which manages the Casa Madrona, could not be reached for comment.

The roots of the Casa Madrona, which in architecture and ambiance is reminiscent of the French and Italian rivieras, stretch back to 1885, when it was a private mansion constructed by the W.G. Barrett family of San Francisco and used as a summer home.

It was sold and converted around the turn of the century into a hotel, along with a few cottages. It was renovated in the 1980s and a new section was added, featuring 32 new Victorian-style rooms, ranging in size from 600 to 750 square feet.

The hotel was sold in 2005 to a group of partners from around the country under the name of Casa Madrona LLC. They added 31 upscale rooms connected by series of stairs and hallways to the Victorian section. They also leased the space that used to house the Village Faire to a restaurant, Poggio. City officials said the restaurant is not expected to be affected if the hotel is converted to condominiums.

Hotel room rates range from about $159 to $399 a day, with the least expensive typically not having a view of the bay. All rooms have balconies and many have views of San Francisco and Angel Island and Richardson Bay.

Read more Sausalito/Marin City stories at the IJ's Sausalito/Marin City page.

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich [at] marinij.com

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