A major expansion of the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Santa Barbara is underway, and the space is expected to be completed by 2021.
The hotel is located at 1601 State St., alongside a stretch of restaurants, galleries and shops in the downtown corridor.
The renovations will include demolishing a small motor court annex and building a three-story hotel in its place, and adding dozens of rooms and a rooftop deck facing State Street to the existing hotel. The project will result in a 63,110-square-foot hotel with 122 hotel rooms and 123 parking spaces, according to city records.
The additions will feature a new subgrade parking lot with 62 parking spaces. The ground floor of the hotel will have 28 new covered parking spaces, a new entrance lobby off of State Street, a courtyard, a new pool, a spa, a dining/bar area, a kitchen and six hotel rooms.
The project will involve the demolition of a 14-room hotel annex, the pool and the uncovered parking spaces, according to city records.
Andrew Firestone and Jess Parker of StonePark Capital, a Santa Barbara-based hospitality firm, own La Quinta Inn & Suites.
“We are investing in Santa Barbara hospitality,” Firestone said. “This is a great opportunity to expand on a property that has been part of Santa Barbara hospitality since 1959. This was a great use of the space, and we are excited to add these guest rooms.”
Construction noise and dust are likely to impact the immediate vicinity of the project, and hotel management is taking steps to reduce such effects.
La Quinta Inn & Suites remains open during construction.
“We are trying to limit the impacts to our guests that are staying there — we do our best to accommodate,” Firestone said. “Noise and dust are part of the construction.”
He declined to comment on the project’s cost.
Brian Cearnal, a founding partner of the Cearnal Collective, is the architect for the project.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.