Shawmut announced the completion of the Silver Lake Pool & Inn, a 45,000-square-foot facility with a 54-key hotel, restaurant, elevated pool deck with landscaping, and open-air patios. Located on Santa Monica Boulevard in the fashionable Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, the Silver Lake Pool & Inn opened on November 7, 2019 as a collaboration between Los Angeles-based Palisociety and Timberlane Partners.

Shawmut worked closely with architect Electric Bowery to renovate the hotel, which had originally been used as a motel in the 1980s. The team also expanded the structure to create space for the restaurant and outdoor amenities.

“Collaboration was key to this project, and the team worked seamlessly with Palisociety and developer Timberlane Partners to make their vision a reality,” says Randy Shelly, vice president of hospitality. “Working hand-in-hand with all key stakeholders, we overcame some major challenges, including preserving a minimum portion of the existing building and not exceeding the existing floor area ratio (FAR) of the limited space.”

The Shawmut team completed the work in two phases. During the first phase, which centered on the 35,000 square-foot-hotel, the team modified the framing of the existing building to allow for new finishes. Room features include cork flooring, barn doors, Moroccan tiles, wainscot, and handmade zellige tiles. Lobby finishes also include tiles, along with stained concrete flooring.  

The second phase centered on the ground-up construction of the 10,000-square-foot restaurant and the pool. In this phase, Shawmut completed partial demolition of an existing structure to make room for a new super structure that extends the building and its decks. A notable challenge of this phase concerned an existing rotunda, which is now part of the exterior walls of the restaurant. The team had to work around this rotunda when laying the foundation. To do so, Shawmut opted for shoring, which was subsequently dismantled.  

Another obstacle that had to be avoided was the existing sewer line going through the property. In this case, Shawmut installed casings to protect the pipes. Additionally, Shawmut had to contend with two separate buildings that not only had different permits and different heights, but also were situated along three streets of varying elevations.  Despite these complexities, Shawmut was able to equalize the elevations of the two building courtyards and connect both buildings to one MEP service. 

Today, the site houses a restaurant called Marco Polo, which features a stippled exterior, stained concrete flooring in the courtyard and inside, and special recessed lights from Italy in the floors and walls.  An additional amenity is the pool deck of flax stone and stucco.  Guests who are fond of selfies can pose along the 30-foot wall of Moroccan tiles, which provides the perfect Instagram moment. 

Shawmut’s work on the Silver Lake Pool & Inn represents the latest in the firm’s portfolio of hospitality projects in the Los Angeles area, including the recently-opened Soho Warehouse in Downtown Los Angeles and The Hoxton, Downtown LA, as well as the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village and Oceana in Santa Monica.