881 Abbot Kinney

A 43-room hotel with five attached condominiums is under construction at the corner of Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Main Street in Venice, California — one of two ground-up hotels finally arriving on a boulevard that has never had one. First approved in 2006-2007 but not permitted until August 2022, it survived a resident appeal before construction began. No operator, brand, or confirmed opening date has been announced as of August 2026.

The place

881 Abbot Kinney occupies four contiguous lots at the southern end of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, at its intersection with Main Street — the point where Venice's design-forward retail strip meets the approach to Santa Monica's Main Street corridor, a short walk from Venice Beach. The 29,589-square-foot site previously belonged to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The concept

The project pairs a 43-room hotel with five condominium units, about 1,183 square feet of ground-floor retail, and 177 underground parking spaces in a three-story building — a scale set by Venice's height limits. It is designed by Venice-based architect Robert Thibodeau of Design Universal. The route to construction was long. The Zoning Administrator approved the project in 2006 and the West Los Angeles Planning Department followed in 2007, but a building permit was not issued until August 2022. A local group, Citizens Preserving Venice, then appealed the permit in October 2023; the city denied the appeal in December 2023. 881 Abbot Kinney is under construction alongside Venice Place, a separate 78-room hotel project a few blocks north. The two are unrelated in ownership, architect, and design, but are described locally as the first purpose-built hotels on the boulevard in decades.

Dining & wellness

No restaurant, bar, or spa operator has been announced. Los Angeles Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control filings from November 2024 confirm the hotel will include a pool deck, an outdoor courtyard, and a lobby area licensed to serve alcohol, pointing to an on-site bar or lounge, but no chef, restaurant concept, or brand has been named.