The owner of the Pepper’s Restaurant site at 181 Colorado Place across from the Racetrack has submitted plans to demolish the building in advance of a new project. The owner, Mike Soo, previously developed the adjacent medical office buildings (now occupied by Keck USC) and the associated parking structure, and are now working on the Hilton Hotel to be developed where the current Parson’s office building sits to the east of the medical office building. In recent months, the Pepper’s site has been the target of frequent vandalism and unlawful entry and the owner has requested that a demolition permit be allowed in advance of consideration of a new small hotel proposal on this site. Given the safety concerns at the site, we have agreed to allow the demolition and required the site to be graded and landscaped to appear in a “finished” state in advance of the new project. The new project, a Hilton-based “Home 2 Home Suites”, is in the planning stage and Mr. Soo plans to submit the plans in the next month or so.