A vacant Red Lobster that sat empty for nearly four years on Orange Place could become a five-story, 132-room Hilton Tempo hotel, but first the developer needs Orange Village to sign off on six separate zoning variances — and not everyone at Wednesday's public hearing was on board. Residents raised concerns about traffic, parking and public safety, while a representative for the project argued the site has no other viable use.
Six Variances, One Vacant Lot
San Francisco-based developer LuxOne LLC is seeking the variances for the 2.26-acre property at 3655 Orange Place, which is smaller than the three acres normally required and smaller than many other parcels along the Orange Place strip, according to Cleveland.com. RDL Architects submitted the variance requests on the company's behalf. Under Orange Village's public hearing notice, LuxOne is asking for relief under Section 1156.04(b) for 123 of the hotel's 132 proposed rooms, including 35 rooms at 250 square feet and 51 rooms at 276 square feet — well below the village's 325-square-foot minimum, according to Orange Village.
The proposed building would also exceed the village's 50-foot height limit by about 6 feet, sit roughly 5 feet closer to a neighboring property than allowed, and come in about 18 feet closer to Orange Place than normally permitted, per the same account. It would have a 30-foot-4-inch side-yard setback instead of the required 35 feet, per Orange Village's hearing documentation. The hotel would also provide 106 parking spaces instead of the 132 normally required.
Resident Pushback Centers On Traffic And Safety
Only two people spoke during the public hearing. Stacy Manila said the hotel could increase traffic and congestion on Orange Place and create noise, lighting and activity that would affect nearby residential properties. She also said the project could increase demands on public infrastructure and municipal services, and specifically warned that reduced parking could slow safety-force response times. Manila asked council to deny the requested variances, the outlet's report notes.
Separately, Amanda Kurland expressed concerns about safety issues associated with hotels in general, according to the same report. Village officials have reason to take those worries seriously: Deputy Police Chief Michael Debeljak survived life-threatening injuries in 2022 after responding to a hotel call on Orange Place, an attack that left him stabbed 10 times with a 9-inch knife before he returned to work in early 2023 after 10 months of recovery. Court records from the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals show the March 2022 attack occurred during an eviction call at an extended-stay hotel on Orange Place, where suspect Deshawn Howard struck Debeljak in the face and inflicted knife wounds to his neck, chest, skull, face and hand before being charged with attempted aggravated murder.
Developer Sees No Other Use For The Site
Gregory Soltis, a senior designer for RDL Architects in Beachwood, spoke in favor of the proposal, saying the hotel use is needed based on market conditions and that a hotel was the only real use his firm found for the vacant space. The proposed Hilton Tempo is designed as a business-oriented hotel targeting what the brand calls the “modern achiever,” and is not intended to operate as an extended-stay property. Planned amenities include a fitness center, a small bar, meeting space, a grab-and-go food market, and a larger lobby combining food, bar and living-room areas, with interior and exterior design meant to reflect both Orange and Cleveland, per Cleveland.com's account of the presentation.
Hilton launched the Tempo brand in January 2020 as an “approachable lifestyle” concept built around wellness amenities, compact rooms and flexible common spaces, according to Hotel Management. Since opening its flagship Times Square location in 2023, the brand's global pipeline had grown to more than 50 signed or operating properties across North America and Europe by early 2025, per THP News. One dossier note on hotel operations observed that this style of clientele often arrives by Uber or jointly in one car, a pattern developers point to when defending reduced parking counts.
A Site With a Long Commercial History
The Red Lobster at 3655 Orange Place opened in November 1977 and operated for 45 years before closing in December 2022, after corporate management determined the location was underperforming compared with nearby regional outlets, according to Cleveland Scene. Red Lobster Hospitality LLC formally rejected and abandoned its lease on the property in May 2024 as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, clearing the legal path for redevelopment.
The commercial strip along Orange Place and Chagrin Boulevard is classified under the village's 2018 Master Plan as a Motorist Service District, intended to accommodate high-density, highway-oriented uses like hotels, service stations and restaurants along the Interstate 271 corridor. The proposed hotel sits near that interstate and the Pinecrest shopping district, a 640,000-square-foot mixed-use town center that already includes an AC Hotel by Marriott and was acquired by retail REIT Tanger for $167 million in early 2025, as Hoodline previously reported.
What Happens Next
Orange Village's Planning and Zoning Commission and Architectural Board of Review recommended approval of the variances on July 7. Village Solicitor Stephen Byron told council members they can approve the variance requests as conclusions of fact, and Manila noted that variances are meant to address exceptional hardships tied to a specific property. Orange Village Council is scheduled to vote on the six variance requests at its meeting at 7 p.m. on August 12.
