A 35-room hotel containing a restaurant, public market, lounge, health club, pool, and 106 covered parking spots received another piece of the development puzzle on its way toward groundbreaking. “The Landing” received a conditional use permit at the March 5th San Bernardino County Planning Commission meeting.
San Bernardino County Planning Division Manager Oliver Mujica presented the project, which he says will sit about 900 feet north of Reche Road on a 5.7 acre plot of land that is zoned rural commercial.
The hotel is planned to be staffed 24 hours a day with up to 25 employees. There’s going to be a restaurant and pool open to the public during daytime hours. The property is currently undeveloped and the county says that the impact of the development is “below significance” for biological, tribal, and cultural resources, as well as geology, soil, water use, and noise.
Sam Friedman and Ben Toffey are the development team behind the project. They held a community meeting at Belfield Hall in November of 2024, where they presented the initial plans for the hotel which received the type of mixed reactions you’ve come to expect at a hi-desert development meeting.
There was pushback on the project from the local affordability angle, along with concerns about noise, dark skies, and traffic. Part of the plan for the hotel is a public market, which the developers say would provide a place for locals to grab goods without having to trek into Yucca Valley.
The promise of an affordable market continues to be part of the proposed hotel, and the developers say that local support is essential for the project, which so far has avoided characterizing itself as a boutique hotel. Sam Friedman addressed the Planning Commission at the meeting and emphasized local support.
“If the community aren’t our first clients and customers, this won’t work. And so will the will the rooms be high end? They’re going to be more high end than certain things, less high end than others. We’re not we’re not building a Ritz Carlton, but it’s not going to be a motel either. You know, we have this idea of a market and day passes and things like that, and we’ve talked to the community about this. We’re going to be pricing things in accordance with community feasibility and budgets to get to get a get a cup of coffee or buy some groceries. It’s 20 to 25 minutes to Yucca Valley. I think a lot of the letters of support we’ve we’ve gotten have indicated that they’re excited about that,” Friedman said.
The notice for the March planning commission meeting was published in the Hi-Desert Star in February, as well as being mailed directly to surrounding property owners. Oliver Mujica says that the county received eight letters in support of the project. It’s also received public support from longtime Landers locals like Chris Gubler.
The hotel is designed by West of West, an architecture firm out of Vancouver, Washington. It’s a sleek, modern looking design, which invoked the names of famous architects Ian McHarg and Frank Lloyd Wright from county commissioners.
There were no public comments at the March 5th planning commission meeting, and the county planning commission voted to adopt the mitigated negative declaration and conditional use permit for the project. That paves the way for development to begin at the site but no timeline was mentioned. We will continue to report on the Landers landing as we receive more details.
Project details:
- 35-Unit Hotel
- 15,750 square feet (450 square feet per guest room)
- 3,300 square foot restaurant
- 850 square foot goods market
- 3,300 square foot guest lodge
- 2,200 square foot health club
- 1,400 square foot outdoor pool
- 1,000 square foot laundry/engineering room
- 3,600 square foot shade structure to serve as an outdoor pavilion
- Covered parking areas (106 parking spaces)
You can view the entire San Bernardino County Staff Report here (PDF Link).
