OAKLAND — The Claremont Club & Spa, a visible, cherished icon set against the Oakland-Berkeley hills, could get a new neighbor: 45 condos built on the hotel’s parking lot.

Developer Michael Ghielmetti of Signature Properties is proposing the project there against the same long odds and arguments that have killed similar developments over the years.

Those would be more traffic, blocking views from hillside neighbors and tampering with the grand ambience of the century-old hotel.

“We don’t want to detract from the views to or from the hotel or from the neighbors above us. We want to respect the neighborhood and create an architectural complement to the hotel,” Ghielmetti said during a recent community meeting to discuss the project.

The idea is in its early stages — Ghielmetti has not submitted official plans or drawings to Oakland City Hall. But the developer is already meeting with neighbors to walk through the process together. The hope is to ease concerns from preservationists and residents concerned about worsening the already heavy traffic in the neighborhood, which straddles the Berkeley-Oakland border between Highway 24 and UC Berkeley.

“He’s assured us not to worry,” said resident Miriam Wilson, who lives nearby on The Uplands. “We need enforceable mitigation. It’s real easy to say, ‘Don’t worry.’ ”

Completed about a century ago, the stately white hotel is designed in the style of England’s Tudor architecture, where the grounds surrounding the hotel are equally important to the building itself, said Lesley Emmington, who has served on the local landmarks commission.

Some have compared it to a wedding cake on a hillside. According to lore, the hotel’s construction stalled after John Spring, a primary investor in the Key System transit line, lost a card game. It was revived and completed in 1915 under the helm of Erik Lindblom, who made his money mining gold in Alaska, Emmington said.

Live music and dancing filled the hotel in the 1920s and ’30s, becoming a favorite haunt for UC Berkeley students. And people could escape San Francisco or the flatlands of Oakland by taking the Key System’s street cars to the hotel.

“There’s a real glamorous history with some of the top characters of the East Bay,” said Emmington, who grew up near the hotel and lives nearby today.

Emmington recalls a battle in 2000 with previous owners who wanted to build condominiums, possibly as time sharing, and new guest rooms. The owners also wanted to relocate the Claremont’s 10 outdoor tennis courts to the top of a parking garage. None of that happened.

In 2002, the Oakland City Council named the hotel a landmark, but that did not extend to the hotel grounds, which include the parking lot adjacent to the lobby. The ruling dismayed preservationists who wanted the whole property given protected status.

Two years ago, the Fairmont Hotel chain and financier Richard Blum, the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, purchased the property. The group immediately announced plans to renovate the hotel lobby, dining area and its 276 rooms and suites. Emmington said work is also being done on the tennis courts and boiler room of the building.

As those renovations continue, Ghielmetti is meeting with city planning staff to discuss his ideas for the condominium building, which could be as high as three stories with an underground parking lot.

Rachel Flynn, head of planning and building for the city of Oakland, said the city is intrigued by the proposal.

“In our view, we think it’s always good to get more housing in Oakland,” Flynn said. “Any time you build new housing, you create opportunities for people who otherwise might displace existing residents.”

Flynn said Oakland should be building 3,000 units a year to keep pace with the city’s job growth. Last year, 600 units were built, she said.

But Wilson, a Realtor, said she is concerned about the prospect of more cars coming to her tiny street. GPS shows it as a shortcut connecting Claremont Avenue and Tunnel Road, and it is frequently used by the hotel’s service cars, she said.

“Enough is enough,” Wilson said.

Emmington is more concerned about preserving the look of the hotel.

“We are all fearsome and very wary of the new owner, who should take care of the gold they have and not try to muck it up,” she said. “It’s a beautiful place.”

Ghielmetti said he believes they will add more parking to the area and ensure the condos complement the hotel’s architecture. He envisions the condos will attract empty nesters looking to downsize, freeing up much needed housing.

“At worst, it can be an eyesore,” said Roger Feuer, general manager of Rick & Ann’s Restaurant, located across the street from the hotel. “If it’s a simple amendment to the building and it looks good and there’s 80 more people to come down to the businesses here, that’s fine.”

David DeBolt covers Oakland. Contact him at 510-208-6453. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.