Los Gatos Weekly-Times

How does your Garden Inn grow?

By Jeff Kearns

Hoping to serve its business-oriented clientele a bit better, the Garden Inn is looking to expand and modernize its facilities at 46 E. Main St.

Owner Tom Chang recently won approval from the Planning Commission to make small additions on the guest rooms at the motel--by enclosing 54 square feet of porch area off 24 rooms--and is now proposing a bigger remodel for the building.

Chang came to the Conceptual Development Advisory Committee last week with plans to remove four guest rooms, the manager's office and the pool and put in five new Americans With Disabilities Act-compatible rooms and a meeting area. Chang also proposed a restaurant for the 28-room motel.

CDAC members were skeptical about adding another restaurant downtown, especially Councilmember Randy Attaway, who said he didn't see the council approving the restaurant because it would draw more cars downtown. If the restaurant were primarily for motel guests, he said, he might be swayed.

Attaway said he was wary about some restaurant applications after his experience with Campo di Bocce, which "was supposed to be a snack bar, but now it's a restaurant. I don't want to be misled."

If the Garden Inn does try to get a restaurant approved, it's in good shape in terms of parking. Required by the town to provide 31 spaces, the motel currently has a total of 69 spaces--29 on site and 40 in the parking assessment district.

Planning Commissioner Sandy Decker said she wasn't as concerned about the restaurant as about the size of a new two-story building on E. Main Street. "That's an important corner in this town, and I'd prefer not to see something that massive," she said.

No formal applications have been filed with the town, but the project could come before the Planning Commission as early as next month.

Chang also hopes to bring modern telecommunications facilities to the rooms to meet what he and architect John Lein see as a growing trend. According to Chang, the motel usually operates at about 93 percent of capacity. It was built in 1947.

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