New plans unveiled for downtown Petaluma hotel
In a pivot from a previous plan for a five-story hotel in 2019, a new six-story hotel project has been proposed for the same downtown Petaluma location after a Newport Beach developer purchased the property in late 2021.
An application for the project, deemed Hotel Weaver, was submitted to city officials by EKN Development Group on April 4 and calls for a 93-room hotel and public event space. It’s set to be located on the one-third-acre vacant lot at Petaluma Boulevard South and B Street, the site of a gas station until 2009.
“Petaluma is clearly the epicurean capital of the world,” said Ebbie Nakhjavani, CEO and president of EKN Development Group in a Wednesday afternoon phone call, as he explained why he wanted to bring his work to the historic downtown district.
By way of explanation, Nakhjavani said that unlike many developers, he explored all the coffee shops, restaurants and businesses in the Petaluma Boulevard area to get a feel for how the community operates so he could envision and create the hotel project to fit in with Petaluma’s environment and history.
“The way we approached it – the whole design concept focuses on celebrating Petaluma,” Nakhjavani said. “We want to celebrate the culture, we want to celebrate the past. We didn’t want to just put our signature on a piece of property and call it that.”
One of the hotel’s aspects Nakhjavani is excited to unveil is the 1,230-square-foot event space and rooftop bar, which will be open to the public. It’s a feature that he said wasn’t present in a 2019 proposal for a similar boutique hotel, The Petaluman, which was nixed after EKN Development bought the site from former property owner Ross Jones. The Petaluman, which was slated to be built in 2021, faced a number of challenges, including the lack of space for on-site parking and neighborhood opposition.
Nakhjavani did not disclose how much money he paid Jones for the property, and said that would be revealed once the project is further along in the approval process.
Hotel Weaver, which is now set to be the second hotel in downtown Petaluma, also plans to have a fitness room and a below-grade parking garage for 54 vehicles.
Two weeks ago the city notified EKN Development Group that the project application package was missing some information. Because of that, it’s unclear when the project will go before City Council for approval, said Greg Powell, senior planner with the City of Petaluma, in a Wednesday morning phone call.
Amelia Parreira is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.parreira@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.
