After plans to develop the former Rockhaven Sanitarium into a park and boutique mall were scrapped earlier this year (see here), the City of Glendale are now reconsidering a proposal to turn the site into a hotel and community garden, as Lila Seidman reports for the Los Angeles Times. (Marilyn’s mother, Gladys Baker, was a resident at Rockhaven from 1953-67. You can read more about this pioneering women’s sanitarium here.)
“City officials are reconsidering an idea to turn the site of the former Rockhaven Sanitarium in north Glendale into a boutique hotel and community garden, voting this week to revive a proposal submitted by a developer nearly three years ago.
During a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Glendale City Council members supported entering into a six-month exclusive negotiating agreement with Avalon Investment Co. to fine-tune its vision for the property that originally opened in 1923 as a women’s mental-health facility.
It’s a departure from the present council’s decision in 2016 to work with Gangi Development and turn the property into a park and boutique commercial center. At the time, council members sidestepped a recommendation by the city staff to work with Avalon.
Friends of Rockhaven, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the property, supported Gangi’s proposal. During the meeting on Tuesday, Friends treasurer Jo Ann Stupakis said the nonprofit now supports Avalon’s proposal. ‘We have some new friends that have come to play,’ Stupakis said of Avalon. ‘They see [Rockhaven’s] beauty, her history, her potential.’
Friends president Joanna Linkchort said she still preferred a park, but felt Avalon’s managing partner, Weston Cookler, is working hard to tailor the hotel project’s design to the community’s needs. Councilman Vartan Gharpetian said he also preferred a park, but voted to go forward with the negotiating agreement, voicing his support as a ‘soft yes.’
‘The original plan didn’t really get it,’ Linkchort said during an interview after the meeting. ‘Now, talking to [Cookler], it seems like a much better fit.’
After hearing from several stakeholder groups, including local historical societies and business organizations, Cookler said his team is considering lowering the number of hotel rooms from 45 to 30. Members of the public, not just hotel guests, would be free to roam the grounds of the planned hotel, he added.
The sanatorium, founded by nurse Agnes Richards, was put on the state’s historical resource list in 2016 … As part of Avalon’s proposal, Rockhaven’s structures and grounds would be restored and preserved to a federal standard. The decision won the support of the Glendale and Crescenta Valley historical societies.”