Alley-Split Hotel Design Takes Shape at 2268 West Pico Boulevard

The hotel proposed at 2268 West Pico Boulevard in Pico-Union is structured around a physical constraint that typically complicates development: an active alley running through the middle of the site. Rather than eliminating that condition, the project uses it to determine both building form and circulation strategy.

The project applicant is Da Yuh Development, Inc. The hotel is designed by Joseph Wong Design Associates.

The development site spans multiple parcels between 2250 and 2270 West Pico Boulevard and is currently occupied by a former grocery store. The proposal introduces a hotel program divided into two separate six-story structures, with guest rooms distributed across both buildings instead of concentrated in a single volume. Together, the buildings are designed to accommodate 125 hotel rooms.

The alley remains open and continues to function as a service and access corridor, creating a permanent separation between the two structures. This split results in a street presence that is continuous along Pico Boulevard while avoiding the appearance of a single uninterrupted mass. Each building addresses its frontage independently, allowing the overall project to read as an extension of Pico-Union’s commercial block pattern rather than as a standalone hospitality complex.

Public-facing hotel functions are placed at ground level along Pico Boulevard. These spaces include guest arrival and dining uses, which activate the sidewalk edge while keeping guest room circulation contained within the interior of each structure. Vertical movement is handled through internal cores, limiting the visual impact of circulation elements on the primary elevations.

Automobile storage is fully removed from the street level. Vehicles are accommodated in a multi-tiered underground garage with capacity for 84 cars, accessed without interrupting the pedestrian frontage. By shifting parking below grade, the project preserves the ground plane for building entrances, glazing, and landscaping rather than drive aisles or exposed ramps.

Architectural drawings show the two buildings sharing a common material language while allowing for variation in massing and façade depth. Changes in plane, window grouping, and exterior finishes are used to visually connect the structures across the alley without collapsing them into a single form. The result is a mid-rise hotel configuration shaped by parcel geometry rather than by standardized hospitality layouts.

With land use approvals now secured, the proposal represents a site-driven hotel typology in Pico-Union, one that prioritizes urban fit and block-level integration over monumentality or programmatic spectacle.

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