ANAHEIM, CA—Owner Scalzo Hospitality Inc. is planning a roughly $30-million renovation of its Park Vue Inn, an 86-guestroom, third-generation family-owned hotel here. The property will be replaced by a new 162-room mixed-use building designed by Irvine, CA-based architecture firm MVE & Partners Inc. and is scheduled to begin January 2015 with occupancy slated for March 2016.

The new hotel, located directly across from the main entrance to Disneyland on South Harbor Blvd., will be a pedestrian-oriented building that, according to Scalzo, will “complement and reinforce the character of the Anaheim resort district.” The firm adds that the hotel is located closer to the main entrance of Disneyland than Disney's own resort hotels.

“The redevelopment of Park Vue Inn is a family dream come true,” says Paul Durand, CEO of Scalzo Hospitality Inc. “My grandfather built this hotel in 1962, and we have remodeled over the years, but this is the first redevelopment of the entire site. We are making an investment for both our guests as well as our next generation of family ownership.”

The new 119,000-square-foot hotel will include garden areas, a pool and two levels of parking on the 2.3-acre site. The building is designed in an updated rendition of Mediterranean architecture in the tradition of early 20^th-Century West Coast hotel architecture and will incorporate nearly 8,000 square feet of restaurant space on the ground floor facing South Harbor Blvd. The majority of the new restaurant space will be occupied by the site's existing International House of Pancakes restaurant—the chain's number-one restaurant in generated sales of the 1,565 locations worldwide. The Cold Stone Creamery currently on site will also be relocated to the new hotel structure.

Mark Oberholzer, a partner at MVE & Partners, says the new design is “reflective of the changes that Anaheim has been experiencing in the last decade—a shift from car-dominated design to a more pedestrian-friendly, cohesive urban vision. Our hope is that the Park Vue will set a precedent that will encourage other development to fulfill the potential of the Anaheim resort district.”

According to Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, “This type of reinvestment is valued and welcomed in Anaheim. The Park Vue Inn has provided a family-oriented boutique hotel environment for nearly 60 years. Their plans reflect the type of revitalization we hope for from our long-standing businesses.”

As GlobeSt.com reported in May, hotels, like multifamily properties, are beginning to target specific audiences in their quest to attract guests, according to Bill Wilhelm, president of Irvine-based construcdtion company R.D. Olson Construction. Wilhelm told us how broad this type of targeting is, how it impacts guests and other trends he's seeing in hotel builds.