“It’s a super designed building, but that heliport is completely off the charts as far as I’m concerned,” Councilman Frank Quintero said.
“That wasn’t what I voted for.”
Bob Kadlec, a former Glendale city employee who oversaw the project’s development from its inception until he retired from the city earlier this year, recently said hotel designers have flouted city regulations by removing the structural element and that “safety netting and emergency staircase which faces Central [Avenue]” were exposed.
On Tuesday, officials with the project’s developer, Kam Sang Company Inc., said the project is still incomplete but admitted to the agency that “mitigating factors occurred during the design process,” Project Manager John Hicks said.
Those factors included the weight of the support elements around the landing pad that would have topped the 47,243-square-foot building and concerns about wind resistance for an architectural piece that would skyrocket above Central Avenue, he said.
“It looks likes it’s of a temporary nature,” Councilman Bob Yousefian said. “It needs to have some kind of covering.”
Agency members told Kam Sang officials about their concern earlier this month after residents complained that the current iteration of the landing pad deviates from the original plan.
Kam Sang President Ronnie Lam answered the agency’s concerns with a vow that his company will construct an element around the landing pad similar to what was originally agreed upon.
“Two weeks ago, when I first heard about this, I directed John [Hicks]. . . to try and go back to the original rendering and make sure it looks like that and is acceptable to all agencies.”
