A development and disposition agreement that’s likely the final step toward building a large Nickelodeon-themed hotel at Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, Orange County, California was approved by the Garden Grove City Council on Tuesday (Sept. 13) night.
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| NICKELODEON HOTEL planned for Harbor’s west side (City of Garden Grove). |
On a 6-0 vote (with second district member Councilmember John O’Neill recusing himself), a resolution approving a disposition and development agreement with Newage Garden Grove II, LLC passed.
Now the developer is committed to construct a 500-suite full service hotel on a 3.72 acre site on Harbor Boulevard, immediately south of the Sheraton Hotel.
It would include a themed “pool experience” with a “lazy river,” event space that includes a 600-seat theater and grand ballroom and more.
The estimated net project revenue to the city by Year 3 is $3.5 million annually. Over 30 years, the project is expected to generate about $236.4 million to the city in a combination of “bed tax” charged to hotel guests, sales tax and property tax.
As many as 1,000 new jobs are expected to be generated from construction and in the resort.
The proposed project would include:
- a themed pool experience with a “lazy river” and pool slide
- event space with a 600-seat theater
- 17,715 square feet of ballroom/meeting space
- 22,296 square feet of hotel restaurant
- 5,480 square feet of retail
- themed amenities totaling 13,238 square feet
- a 7,000 square foot arcade
- a spa and fitness center of 8,532 square feet
- a five-level parking structure with 528 parking spaces.
Once construction starts, completion should take 18 to 24 months estimates Lisa Kim, assistant city manager and director of community and economic development.
We first heard of plans to open a
Nick Hotel in OC in 2016, when Nickelodeon and Kam Sang Co. planned to open a Nick-themed hotel in the city. However, the project was delayed by the end of redevelopment as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
Also on the agenda approved at the Garden Grove City Council meeting were:
- adoption of a resolution authorizing submittal of an application to the County of Orange Continuum of Care for the “Special Notice of Funding Opportunity” to address unsheltered homelessness (Garden Grove is in the process of developing a “navigation center” for the homeless, in conjunction with Westminster and Fountain Valley);
- two purchase orders for a total of 17 police vehicles with a total cost of over $800,000;
- second reading of an ordinance for a planned unit development for a two-hotel project at the northwest corner of Harbor Boulevard and Twintree Avenue;
- a purchase agreement for property at 13871 West St. for use as a navigation center for the homeless (cost: $5,650,000) and awarding a contract for architectural services for the building to Borders Architect (cost: $304,000).
Update (6/26/26) - The long-delayed Nickelodeon project planned for the Harbor Boulevard hotel district in Garden Grove
took another big – perhaps the final – step toward putting some sticks in the ground.
On Tuesday night the City Council voted 7-0 to approve the second reading and adoption of an ordinance approving a planned unit development for the construction of the 23-story, 500-room hotel project at the northwest corner corner of Harbor at Twintree Avenue in the west side of Harbor, immediately south of the existing Sheraton Hotel.
It will be built on a 3.72-acre site.
The development will also include 17,715-square feet of ballroom and meeting rooms; restaurants that can seat up to 600 people and the Nick Studio theater, a studio hall, and 8,532 square feet devoted to retail and fitness spa.
The studio will be used to create and broadcast Nickelodeon TV properties.
It’s a property of Paramount, which is owned by Skydance Corporation.
The process has been a long journey. The city council originally approved a disposition and development agreement in 2022, but the COVID-19 epidemic and other challenges delayed the project.
The project holds the prospect for a big boost in tax revenue to the city through “transient occupancy tax” paid by hotel guests.
In 2022, the total tax revenue flowing to the city from the project was estimated at $3.5 million annually, with $236.4 million over a 30-year period.
A Nickelodeon hotel makes its way through red tape, again, in Garden Grove
Plans for a Nickelodeon Hotel & Resort for the City of Garden Grove span back over a decade.
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| Rendering of a planned Nickelodeon Hotel Resort on Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove. |
PUBLISHED: June 26, 2026 at 3:19 PM PDT | UPDATED: June 26, 2026 at 6:22 PM PDT
Four years after legal opposition tabled plans for a Nickelodeon-themed resort in Garden Grove, the project is again gaining momentum within City Hall.
The City Council this week unanimously reapproved development plans for a 500-room, themed resort with waterslides and a lazy river. Among its amenities, the resort would feature a 23-story hotel, a 600-seat theater, a spa, an arcade, a restaurant, retail and a five-level parking structure with more than 500 parking spaces.
There are currently three Nickelodeon resorts worldwide — in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana, Mexico’s Riviera Maya and Turkey’s Antalya, according to the Nickelodeon Hotel & Resorts website. Another themed resort, and the first in the United States, is planned for a 2028 opening in Orlando, according to the company. The family-friendly cable television network is maybe best known for its roster of animated hits such as “Dora the Explorer” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
In Garden Grove, officials are hoping the Kam Sang Company Inc., a real estate investment and development company headquartered in Arcadia, will build the approved Nickelodeon hotel atop a 3.72-acre site at Harbor Boulevard and Twintree Lane. The Kam Sang Company has developed around Garden Grove, including Brookhurst Place, a residential community in Koreatown, and the Sheraton Hotel that’s just north of where the proposed Nickelodeon resort would be.
The idea of a Nickelodeon resort first came to the dais for discussion in 2016 and elected officials llater approved a scaled-down version in 2022. Community members who voiced opposition said they would have been better served by an affordable housing project.
Before construction could begin on the resort, UNITE HERE Local 11, a union representing hospitality workers, appealed the council’s decision, saying the city should have conducted an environmental impact report before green-lighting the project.
But the council denied the appeal and the union filed a complaint in the Orange County Superior Court, challenging the City Council’s actions on CEQA grounds. VietRISE, a local nonprofit and advocacy group, joined the litigation. Before the case went to trial, the city agreed to conduct an environmental impact report, and based on that analysis, to assess whether the project needed changes.
As its next step, the city will “return to the court and present the matter to the judge,” Garden Grove spokesperson Johnathan Garcia said.
“The court will need to determine whether the city has satisfied the requirements of the writ,” he said, adding if the court agrees, the developer would first have to get approval for necessary permits before work can begin on the resort.
Leading up to the council’s decision to approve development plans this week, members of UNITE HERE Local 11 and residents addressed the dais, saying the land should go toward building much-needed homes to fulfill state housing requirements.
“There’s not enough for residents in Garden Grove, and housing is getting more expensive,” VietRISE co-founder and Executive Director Tracy La said. “And in a situation where we have public land, our ideal would be that this land is used for projects directly meeting residents’ most important needs, like housing or a mixed-use development that would really benefit the community.”
“So we’re glad that they came back with the report we were asking for, but it’s always hard to see public land being used for private business as opposed to something that would have really improved the lives of local residents,” she said.
The city estimates the project would generate $323.2 million in revenue over a 30-year span, with the bulk coming from the city’s 14.5% tax on hotel stays.
“The city reinvests this revenue back into the community for the benefit of our residents,” spokesperson Garcia said.
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No vote on hotel worker wages
One of the two proposed ballot measures backed by members of the local hotel workers union won’t be appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The other – calling for a public vote on the proposed Nickelodeon hotel on Harbor Boulevard – is in the process of its petitions being evaluated by the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
According to the Garden Grove City Clerk’s office, a petition on the hotel with 9,674 signatures was submitted.
Typically, the gathering of signatures includes some persons signing who are not residents of the city, or who are not registered voters, either of which would disqualify them.
The Registrar will now seek to validate the signatures. If sufficient, the proposed initiative would go before Garden Grove voters.
The other proposed initiative called for a raise in the minimum wage for hotel workers.
Details about why that initiative won’t advance was not available at our deadline.
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Senior vice president of global experiences for Paramount Marie Marks highlighted hospitality’s ability to offer something no other format can offer at
Variety’s 2026 Entertainment and Technology Summit. A hotel where families stay with IP for days is a “full flywheel of experiences” that is powerful when done right.
The growing Nickelodeon hotel business has 1,000 rooms in the market and another 2,000 in development globally. “A big learning for us was actually that the IP alone is not enough,” Marks said. “The underlying product has to be exceptional. One’s not enough without the other.”
Election on Nickelodeon hotel resort is called for June 2027
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| IMAGE of the proposed Nickelodeon hotel resort (Oxford Economics). |
The calling of a special election to decide the fate of a proposal to build a 500-room, 23-story Nickelodeon-themed hotel on Harbor Boulevard was approved by the Garden Grove City Council on Tuesday night.
Toward the end of a meeting that dragged on for almost six hours, six council members – including Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein – voted in favor of scheduling a special election on June 8, 2027 and appropriating $1 million to cover the cost.
Councilmember Joe DoVinh, saying he was “conflicted” and didn’t want to pass on the $1 million to the new council to be elected in November, recused himself.
The setting of an election comes because a petition drive to call for a referendum on the council-approved ordinance for the zoning for the hotel received enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
That petition drive was organized by Unite Here, a hotel workers union.
“The city had a vision for the Harbor corridor,” said Councilmember /Mayor Pro Tem George Brietigam. He conceded that he had initially been against the plan to create a hotel district along Harbor, but now is a supporter.
“The hotels have saved this community,” he said. “I was staunchly opposed. Man, was I wrong.”
He added that he believed that voters would back the project, which could bring millions in new tax revenue into city coffers. “I don’t think our community will let us down.”
Earlier in the meeting, the council heard a report by the Oxford Economics firm about the potential impact of another petition drive, calling for higher wages for hotel workers and a cap on their workload.
The effect, the report indicated, would be to increase the hotel’s operating costs, which could mean less business for them and less transient occupancy tax (“bed tax”) paid to the city.
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Originally published: September 15, 2022.
