ARTICLE
As Santa Cruz’s summer doldrums of the vacation season set in, the realization that as a County we may actually be on the “front edge” of a wave of new local lodging resources is stirring. The excitement of these new properties significantly upgrading local lodging stock, making Santa Cruz more competitive with other regional communities for both business rooms and vacation experiences, suggests other opportunities… the growth of visitor expenditures, the addition of additional upscale restaurants and retailers, and increased business and conference travel. Sandy Lydon, retired Cabrillo prof, local historian, and the County’s most famous raconteur describes in an online essay the region’s more than 100 years of failed efforts to replace the Sea Beach Hotel, Santa Cruz’s “last… grand, nationally-known beach front hotel” which burned down in 1912. Of course there have been other larger hotel properties developed in Santa Cruz – the Casa Del Rey, the Dream Inn, the Holiday Inns among others – but notwithstanding these exceptions, most of the lodging built since the Sea Beach fire have been of the “motor hotel” variety, most now aged , and, for the most part, incompatible with the demographics of our region’s current vacationers and business meetings. New lodging construction continues to be a core element of long-term strategies to attract shoulder-season and international visitors, increase higher-end lodging stock appropriate to business and academic meetings, and, ultimately, to increase the local economic productivity of lodging properties for their owners, their employees, and the businesses that depend upon the visitors that stay there. Local governments also depend upon lodging properties to be productive contributors to their general funds; transient occupancy taxes are a rapidly growing source of local revenues as well as related property taxes and visitors’ admissions and sales taxes. Over the last fifty years, battles over hotel projects have been expensive, protracted, and frequently disappointing to supporters. Large-scale project failures include the Lighthouse Field proposal for a large-scale resort proposed in the late 1960s, the Wingspread conference facility effort in the early 1990s, and at least two prior iterations of a La Bahia hotel project. Successes weren’t much easier to come by; it took 17 years to obtain the necessary approvals to build the Seascape Resort. A staple of the City’s economic development plan has been the construction of a conference center to serve both regional business use and academic visitors. The goal of increasing the number of “shoulder season” visitors has been realized in part as a result of international traffic and an aging California population, but the opportunity continues, perhaps to be realized in conjunction with new hotel projects in the Beach area. However, the opportunity to upgrade Santa Cruz County’s lodging stock has not gone unnoticed. There is a wave of new properties in various stages of development. Major projects include: Recently opened: Fairfield Inn – Santa Cruz. Just opened in mid-April, this 82-room property on the western edge of the City near Highway One is a business-class hotel affiliated with the Marriott corporation. Near the Ocean Research facilities at Terrace Point and the increasingly bustling concentration of UCSC offices and commercial / light-industrial properties on Santa Cruz’s westside, the Fairfield also provides convenient access to the University campus. Brookdale Lodge – Brookdale. The historic Brookdale Lodge, purchased in March of 2015 by local hotel operator Pravin Patel, began a staged reopening of this 60-room property. Famous for past visitors, from movie stars to Presidents, its’ unique redwood construction, including a stream running through the hotel lobby, provides great promise for a resurgent mountain retreat. Under construction: Hyatt Place – Santa Cruz. The shell of this 106-room, $25.4 million project on Broadway near Ocean in Santa Cruz is virtually completed, with interior work expected to be finished in time for the 2017 summer season. An upscale business hotel, the Hyatt Place expects to compete with the Scotts Valley Hilton for business travellers as well as university and leisure visitors. Lexington Hotel – Scotts Valley. A 128-room, $21.1 million project on Scotts Valley Drive is also under construction with a projected winter 2016-17 opening. Close to large business complexes including the former Seagate and Borland campuses, the Lexington will address the needs of local business travelers. In planning/financing: Courtyard Marriott – Santa Cruz. This long-awaited project that would replace the Peter Pan Motel and the Super 8 Motel - West on the west side of Riverside, south of the Riverside Bridge. The Courtyard’s, 155 rooms, meeting rooms, and banquet resources will provide families coming to the Beach area a quality lodging experience within easy walking distance of the Boardwalk and beach. La Bahia – Santa Cruz. And, speaking of long-awaited, the La Bahia project appears on the brink of project launch. This 165-room up-scale hotel across the street from the Beach will replace the La Bahia Apartments, long an eye-sore, on what was once one of the premier west-coast vacation beaches. As in the days of the Sea Beach Hotel, the La Bahia could again be the keystone in a renaissance of the Beach Area. Hampton Inn - Watsonville. 122-room Beach Street near Highway One on a portion of the 7 acre parcel previously the site of Indalex Aluminum. The City of Watsonville has approved this project to serve both vacationers and those traveling to south County for business. Unflagged Property – Watsonville. The Watsonville Council also approved an 80-room hotel proposal by the same developer on another portion of the Indalex Aluminum site. Opportunity Sites Seventh and Brommer – Live Oak. Next Tuesday the County Board of Supervisors are expected to approve a Request for Qualifications for the visitor accommodation site on the upper harbor. This property, currently owned by the County, is soliciting a developer/operator to develop a hotel at this access to the Harbor. Portola and 40th, Pleasure Point. The County has recently received a proposal for an 86-room hotel development on this site. The Chamber views all of the above as much needed progress, vital to Santa Cruz’s position as a premier destination. Persistent, decades-long efforts by proprietors, developers, local governments, and the Chamber are finally paying off in waves of opportunities that promise both an expansion of our visitor-serving markets and new opportunities in related industries.
The Chamber views all of the above as much needed progress, vital to Santa Cruz’s position as a premier destination. Persistent, decades-long efforts by proprietors, developers, local governments, and the Chamber are finally paying off in waves of opportunities that promise both an expansion of our visitor-serving markets and new opportunities in related industries.