Client: The Hillstone Restaurant Group
Architect: Stenfors Associates
Role: Project Designer / Architect / Manager
Location: 1323 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA.
Improvement Area: 3,300 SF
Design Started: 2007
Construction Complete: 2008
Construction Cost: $1.5M

Known more for their popular chain of Houston’s steakhouses, the Hillstone Restaurant Group this time was focusing on a smaller, hipper, café-style restaurant.

Although the building renovation was from restaurant to restaurant use, the overall scope was more akin to a new building. The development of this project was preceded by the requirement to be open & operating on a fixed date lest the client lose the only full liquor license on this portion of Montana Blvd.

The project started with a preliminary concept to follow the crisp, clean lines of the mid-century modernist architects of Los Angeles.

The existing building, although matching the clients’ needs in size, did not in style. The interior was fully gutted to expose unreinforced concrete masonry on one wall. The seismic codes of California drove a complete seismic upgrade to all non-conforming structure. This included the replacement of the unreinforced CMU wall with a new skid wall once the existing modified wood bow-truss ceiling was adequately shored up.

As this project was located in Santa Monica and on a main public thoroughfare, review of the project through the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board process was a requirement as part of the permitting process. Although the City of Santa Monica does not do permit expediting, we were able to push the permitting process along so as to obtain the permit for construction to keep the project on target to be open and serving by the specified date. Once the construction permit was issued, construction by Minardos Constructs started the same day. Through constant construction management and more than a few design changes by the client up to and during construction, the project was completed ahead of schedule.

One of the main design concepts that Hillstone Restaurant Group wanted (much to the chagrin of the Department of Health & Safety) were fully retractable front windows and an Expo Kitchen. This was accomplished with roll-up doors and automatic sliding doors on the expo kitchen. This allowed the opportunity to bring the action inside the restaurant to (potential) patrons walking by on the sidewalks outside.