Treehouse Hotel offers a unique lodging opportunity
Facility seeks to recreate childhood nostalgia with its sustainable design
SUNNYVALE >> A hotel that offers a playful lodging experience akin to being in a childhood treehouse is poised to bring hundreds of rooms to Sunnyvale's tech hubs.
A new Treehouse Hotel will become the first of that brand to open in the United States and is slated to sprout in the South Bay city, said SH Hotels & Resorts, the creator of the unique lodging brand.
The hotel will be partly a renovation and partly brand-new construction and will contain 254 rooms, according to SH Hotels & Resorts.
“Sunnyvale is the epicenter of the bold ideas, disruptive technology, imagination and innovation that make Silicon Valley an icon and inspiration for the world,” said Barry Sternlicht, chief executive officer and founder of SH Hotels & Resorts.
The new Treehouse Hotel will be built at 1100 N. Mathilda Ave. in Sunnyvale in an area that's dotted with many current buildings and future sites for famed tech titans such as Google, Facebook app owner Meta Platforms and Amazon, along with an array of smaller tech companies.
“I like the concept and think that Barry Sternlicht is one of the smartest hotel guys in the business,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the California lodging market.
The Treehouse brand takes a sustainable approach in its materials and building techniques and aims to offer people an unforgettable lodging experience that goes beyond a mundane hotel stay.
“It is right on point for what guests are looking for and plays into the environmental consciousness,” Reay said.
Even the names of features that would be found in a hotel of a significant size such as the Treehouse in Sunnyvale are designed to evoke playful thoughts, according to plans on file with Sunnyvale city officials.
It's not a swimming pool, it's the Woodland Swim Hole. Rather than a meeting or conference center, it's an Event Barn. Other names include Birch Grove, Oak Court, The Plaza Hub, Redwood Gateway, Flower Stroll Garden, Gathering Glade, Evening Garden Edge and Morning Garden Edge.
The idea behind the Treehouse Hotel is to bring to mind the carefree comfort, freedom, nostalgia and fun of childhood, as SH Resorts puts it.
“Every inch of this playful property, from mismatched materials to secret nooks and unexpected artwork, creatively combines the energy and intensity of Silicon Valley's high-tech culture with the simpler, older, more natural charms of the Santa Clara Valley's pre-internet era,” Sternlicht said.
A Sheraton hotel already operates on the site. The development would add brand-new rooms and carry out a dramatic renovation and revamp of many existing rooms and buildings on site.
How the planned lodging ultimately fares could provide some clues about the ailments that linger in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 chased away many business and leisure travelers from hotels worldwide and devastated the lodging sector in the Bay Area and around the globe.
Some indications have emerged that point to improved conditions for the leisure and hospitality industries.
But the battered sector still is struggling to recapture its lost business.
The new hotel is scheduled to open in late 2023, Sternlicht estimated.
The Treehouse Hotel will feature a six-story tower with 142 new rooms and the renovation of several buildings that will revamp 112 existing rooms.
Most of the rooms will offer private outdoor spaces that will include patios on the ground floor and balconies and terraces for the upper floors.
The rooms will be designed to convey the notion of being in a treehouse and looking out at the real world beyond.
“Interiors will include soft sofas built into roughhewn wooden bookcases, farm table distressed wooden desks and wood ceiling beams, colorful pillows and quirky quilts,” SH Hotels & Resorts said.
A troubled record
Founded in 1929, Valley Water has a $917 million budget to provide safe, clean water for 2 million people. It is also responsible for flood protection and stewardship of the county's streams.
In 2017, the district, aware of debris and sediment blocking Coyote Creek, took little action to prevent or reduce flooding risks. Heavy rains contributed to Coyote Creek flooding South San Jose, forcing 14,000 people to evacuate and causing about $100 million in damage.
In 2019, the board voted to support the $19 billion Delta tunnels project. This despite knowing it wouldn't add a drop to California's water supply and has never penciled out.
In 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates dams, ordered Valley Water to completely drain Santa Clara County's largest reservoir behind Anderson Dam due to earthquake risk. The board's failure to act earlier puts the Valley's water supply at risk during one of California's worst droughts. The reservoir won't be available to store water until at least 2030. And the project's cost has doubled to $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, overbudget and behind-schedule projects have contributed to the need for the district to purchase water from Sacramento Valley farmers at high prices. And the board is badly divided, including the selection as CEO of Rick Callender.
The final straw was the self-serving ballot measure, backed by Estremera, Kremen, Verela and Richard
Santos, to extend their terms in office by an additional four years. The wording of Measure A, which cost $3.2 million to put on the ballot, implied it was more restrictive than what was already in place. The opposite was true.
District 6
Estremera was a key beneficiary of the termlimit extension. He has served two stints on the board, totaling 26 years. His most recent string of three terms would have made him ineligible to seek a fourth — until Measure A passed. Voters shouldn't be fooled again. They should oust Estremera.
Especially when they have such a good replacement option. Cantrell is development director for the San Jose Conservation Corps, a San Jose planning commissioner and a former board member of Green Foothills, the nonprofit working to protect open spaces of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
His background as an economist and understanding of financial issues would be a welcome addition to the board. He opposes Gov. Gavin Newsom's Delta tunnel project and the Pacheco Dam project, which has doubled in price to $2.5 billion in the past year. He is a major advocate for greater board transparency.
The third candidate, Diego Barragan, a Santa Clara County Airport Land Use Commissioner, wants to keep water rates manageable and reduce the illegal dumping in county streams. But he lacks Cantrell's knowledge of the district's finances.
District 7
Eisenberg is a Palo Alto tech sector attorney with a Harvard Law degree and strong commitment to environmental issues. She opposes the Delta tunnel and Pacheco Dam projects and advocates dramatically ramping up the district's water recycling effort.
We didn't support Eisenberg when she ran for Palo Alto City Council in 2020 against a field of strong candidates. But she is better suited for the Valley Water board and would be a refreshing replacement for Kremen.
Kremen, finishing his second term, supported the deceitful Measure A term limit extension and would benefit from it if were to win this year. But his problems go much deeper than that.
The sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied, caused him in February to withdraw his candidacy for county assessor. He then voluntarily stepped down from presidency of the water district board for six months and asked the water district board to investigate the allegations. The board widened the probe, which is pending, to also include accusations that he bullied staff members.
In March, the Sierra Club complained in a letter to the board of Kremen's “disrespectful treatment” of environmental advocates. The letter accused him of “repeatedly making negative comments in response to our participation” at meetings and “making personal attacks” that made advocates reluctant to comment at meetings.
It's another example of why Valley Water needs new leadership as it faces some of its biggest challenges since its founding nearly a century ago. Voters should elect Cantrell and Eisenberg.