Revenue sharing pact will bring major hotel to Menifee

Menifee Town Center will eventually fill up with these venues. The centerpiece "Christmas tree" oak tree is located at the green dot between numbers 7 and 10, at the midway point of Town Center Drive. The hotel and theater will be located closer to Newport Road (right).

The downtown hub virtually everyone in Menifee is waiting for has not progressed past the drawing board, but that board is rapidly filling up with projects either approved or well into the planning stages.

While city officials prepare to receive updated plans from Krikorian Premiere Theaters, a major step was taken last week when the City Council approved a revenue sharing agreement that will help bring a major hotel into the center. The pact with SH-Menifee, LLC -- the subdivision of a development company based in Anaheim -- calls for the City to pay to the company 50 percent of hotel room tax revenues on a quarterly basis up to a total of $1 million or for 10 years, whichever comes first.

Given that incentive, SH-Menifee has guaranteed it will obtain a major hotel francise by Feb. 28, 2017; will process plans by Jan. 31, 2018; and will build a hotel ready for occupancy by June 30, 2019. Working off a list of hotel brands approved by the City, SH-Menifee has already entered into a preliminary franchise agreement with Marriott to build a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Menifee Town Center.

According to the agreement between the City and SH-Menifee, the hotel will include:

-- A minimum of 80 guest rooms
-- 4,000 square feet of space for conference rooms, a ballroom and other related amenities
-- A swimming pool, gym and other amenities

The hotel will be one of the anchors of the 172-acre Menifee Town Center, which is managed by Regent Properties. Another will be the long-awaited Krikorian Entertainment Center, whose plans have been expanded to include a 16-screen movie theater in a 100,000-square-foot building that will also include a bowling alley and sports bar. Groundbreaking on the Krikorian project should take place later this year, assuming there are no major problems with the revised plans that will soon be submitted to the City.

"This has been a long time coming," said council member Matt Liesemeyer during Wednesday's council meeting. "We finally got a hotel. That's really something to be proud of."

As seen in the map above, Menifee Town Center -- located south of Newport Road and west of Haun Road -- will also include six residential neighborhoods with condominium housing; an urban park; office buildings; restaurants and retail shops; and eventually a new City Hall and County Courthouse. These plans are designed to complete the vision of city officials of an urban center that allows residents to live, shop, conduct business and pursue entertainment options in one central location.