Hilton could replace Palladium

SUNNYVALE — Palladium Night Club in Sunnyvale could soon be replaced with a Hilton Garden Inn.

The Sunnyvale Planning Commission on Nov. 7 will review a plan that calls for leveling the nightclub at 767 N. Mathilda Ave. and building a 238-room hotel in its place. Palladium, also called Club Monaco, hosts musical acts and parties.

OTO Development showed off its plan to the commission during a recent study session. The 135,000square-foot project will have 190 parking spaces, a restaurant and bar, a pool and 3,000 square feet of meeting space that will also be for banquets and events.

The building will be six stories, with the floors tapering up and becoming taller as the building moves farther back from the street.

The hotel was first reviewed by the commission in January. Since then, the exterior design has changed and a drop-off and pick-up area for passengers was redesigned after it was described by commissioners as resembling a gas station.

The original hotel design had two towers at the top, which have since been changed to a simpler single tower with the Hilton Garden Inn sign affixed to it. The facade will be mostly stucco, glass, and stone with wood accents.

“We’re using not too many materials, but enough to give it interesting shadows and color contrast. When we come back, we’ll have material samples and colors,” project architect James Heilbronner told the commission.

Eight charging stations for electric and hybrid cars will be in the parking lot. Steve Pieters, regional director of real estate for OTO Development, told commissioners that hotel officials are considering whether to have a separate shuttle to ferry hotel guests or join up with the Peery Park shuttle program slated to begin a two-year pilot test in 2017.

Commissioners also said they would like to see more landscaping. Roughly 20 percent of the parcel space will be landscaped to buffer much of the proposed asphalt parking that wraps around the property.

“It would be nice to have something more green, more garden-like since it is the Garden Inn,” noted Commissioner David Simmons.