May 09– May 9–After six years of planning, a new three-story hotel is now open on upper Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo.
And a restaurant where Pappy McGregor’s used to operate, a new business called 1865 Craft House & Kitchen, opens to the public on Monday.
La Quinta Inn & Suites San Luis Obispo by Wyndam, formerly called The Monterey Hotel, opened last week at 1845 Monterey St.
The hotel, a project developed by Andrew Firestone’s company StonePark Capital, in partnership with La Quinta, features 102 rooms, with a skybridge the connects two wings of the hotel.
The price range for the new hotel is $150 to $200 a night, Firestone said.
“We’re really excited about serving a cross-section of clients, whether its tourists visiting SLO and the surrounding area, families on vacation, sports teams visiting to play games here, the Cal Poly community, or people on business trips,” Firestone said. “There’s something for everyone.”
The new hotel is one of three set to open in SLO over the next few months.
Hotel Cerro at 1125 Garden St. has a tentative opening set for August. Rooms are expected to run from $285 to $805, excluding taxes, and the new business will also feature a new spa.
Another downtown hotel, Hotel SLO, is slated to open in June, with two restaurants and an anticipated price range of $400 to $1,110 a night.
“Our hotel is really not in the same category as those two,” Firestone said. “It’s really just a different model.”
Open to guests only, the new La Quinta features a rooftop mini-pool and jacuzzi with 360-degree views of the surrounding hills; a fitness room with a view of the north end of the city and Cal Poly, and a self-serve breakfast room.
A few of the larger suites with window views of SLO’s hills are yet to be finished, but will be able to accommodate guests seeking more space and furnishings.
Guests can buy drinks next door at 1865 Craft House & Kitchen, which StonePark is leasing to owners Jake Hildebrand, Brendan Searls and Brian Hill. That business will be open to the public.
The restaurant, featuring outdoor patio seating, will serve foods such as flatbread pizza, burgers and prime rib, along with cocktails with a “mixocology twist” and 18 draft beers, said Hildebrand.
“We set it up so that guests can come here and buy a drink or get food and head back to the hotel,” Hildebrand said.
Hildebrand and Firestone formed their partnership after getting to know each other in the Santa Barbara area, where Firestone currently lives.
Hildebrand said he paid more than $225,000 to buy a liquor license to be able to serve hard liquor.
Firestone, who previously starred on the TV show “The Bachelor,” has ties to the Central Coast, where his family has operated wineries, restaurants and breweries, in addition to developing real estate.
“One thing I think we’ll hopefully help to do is to activate this corridor here on Monterey,” Firestone said. “With the newly opened Kinney Hotel and Leroy’s restaurant across the street, there will be new options for people along this stretch to eat, drink and lodge. We’ll also have bikes available for our guests to ride to downtown.”
