The Wine Institute estimates that nearly 24 million people visit the 4,653 wineries in California’s wine regions each year. That tourism's economic impact in the state, which last year totaled $57.6 billion, includes a robust hospitality and lodging market. While construction slowed a bit last year, there were 26 hotels with 2,204 rooms in the planning stages for northern California’s vineyard-rich Sonoma County, and 13 hotels with 1,621 rooms being planned for Napa Valley, according Atlas Hospitality Group’s 2016 California Hotel Development Survey.
Earlier this month, construction began on one of those establishments, the $24 million, 122-key Hotel Trio in Healdsburg, Calif., which CU Investors, its developer, expects to open next April.
The 82,638-sf hotel, situated in the Sonoma wine country, will serve the Dry Creek, Russian River, and Alexander Valley areas (hence, the “trio”). It will be within walking distance of a host of wineries and have convenient access to hundreds more within a 30-mile radius of the site.
The hotel will include 13 one-bedrooms and 109 studios, and primarily will target individuals and couples who are staying over for a few nights, says Bill Wilhelm, president of R.D. Olson Construction, the GC on this project, who spoke with BD+C earlier this week.
“The hotel will bring a much-needed, cost-effective option to the area for visitors who are looking for a high-end experience in a prime location,” said Matt Grubb, Olson’s Vice President of Construction, in a prepared statement.
Hotel Trio’s amenities will include a bar, meeting room, outdoor pool, barbecue area, lounge, fully equipped fitness center, and multiple outdoor patios with fireplaces. There will be on-premises wine tasting events, and Wilhelm expects the hotel to eventually tie into some of the local vineyards.
The facility will offer guests on-site bicycle rentals, as biking is a very popular transportation mode for touring wine country. (Wilhelm says Olson has incorporated bike-rental services in several of its newer hotels, including one that it’s completing near Los Angeles International Airport.)
Axis/GFA Architecture + Design is the designer of Hotel Trio, which Wilhelm says draws some of its design features—such as its Craftsman-style exterior, clerestory windows, and trellises—from characteristics of the Alexander Valley.
The rest of the Building Team includes ZFA Structural Engineers, CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group, and Tuan and Robinson Engineering.
Wilhelm says this project encompasses a 37-unit apartment building under construction on the same parcel as the hotel. Some of those apartments will be workforce housing that’s priced affordably based on the market’s requirements. This building’s design will match the hotel’s, and it will open around the same time.
Despite local impediments such as finding subs and managing costs, Olson, says Wilhelm, currently has two other hotel deals in the works for Napa Valley, each in its “conceptual” stage.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million.
| Aug 11, 2010
First CityCenter projects earn LEED Gold
CityCenter announced today that it has received three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED Gold certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council for: 1) ARIA Resort's hotel tower; 2) ARIA Resort's convention center and theater; 3) Vdara Hotel. ARIA and Vdara will open in December on the Las Vegas Strip and are the first of CityCenter's developments to be LEED certified.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Whiting-Turner, EMJ Corp. top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 40 largest retail contractors
A ranking of the Top 40 Retail Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Nonprofit healthcare providers turn to real estate for liquidity and to preserve capital, says Jones Lang LaSalle report
Long considered to be stable investments immune to recession, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are now feeling the effects of a cash-strapped economy as decreased charitable contributions are forcing nonprofit hospitals to pare back and seek new financing sources, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2009 Healthcare Real Estate Financing Outlook.
| Aug 11, 2010
Callison, MulvannyG2 among nation's largest retail design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Retail Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Colorado hospital wins LEED Gold
The main building of the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo., is a 136-bed regional medical center offering a full spectrum of services, with specialties in cardiac and trauma care. Constructed primarily of brick, native sandstone, and 85,000 sf of metal panels manufactured by Centria, the 600,000-sf main building, by Denver-based HLM Design, is one of the few hospitals in the nati...
| Aug 11, 2010
Design ups comfort, care in cancer center
A new cancer center is slated to open in fall 2011 at Banner Gateway Medical Center, Gilbert, Ariz. The three-story, 120,000-sf, $107 million cancer center will contain physician clinics, medical imaging, radiation oncology, infusion therapy, and support services. A/E firm Cannon Design has created a visually open, column-free interior to increase patient comfort and care.
| Aug 11, 2010
Charlotte hospital expands its surgery capabilities
The Chicago office of RTKL designed Carolinas HealthCare System's Mercy Medical Plaza, Charlotte, N.C. The 150,000-sf hospital houses 12 operating rooms with expanded pre-operative and recovery space, a pharmacy, and a central sterile processing unit. Tenant space occupies 75,000 sf. RTKL mimicked the materials and mass of older buildings on the campus but created a more modern look by using ex...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.