MENDOCINO CO., 6/7/25 — The Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites and the Hill House Inn may finally get the renovations that locals and visitors have been waiting for.
Castle Peak Holdings, an investment firm specializing in hotels and resorts in high-end outdoor destinations, bought the iconic properties in June 2022. Castle Peak partner David Better says the time since then has been spent on obtaining permits and engaging in the planning and design process for the various project components.
“I hope folks understand how much there is to do” with projects of this magnitude, Better said. “We are very excited about restoring these hotels and wanted to do it right.”
With permits and plans in hand, construction on Hill House is scheduled to begin this fall and finish in the summer of 2026. Passersby may already have noticed small signs of progress. Two 5,000-gallon water tanks appeared about a month ago, with new fencing around the tank area under construction. Better described this work as repair and deferred maintenance on Hill House’s water system.
The major renovations planned for Hill House include upgrades to the guest rooms, the building’s exterior and spaces for public events and programming. Better envisions author talks, wine tastings, group meetings and other activities that will make Hill House a “center of gravity” for both locals and visitors.
Extensive renovations are also scheduled for the Mendocino Hotel. Built in 1878, the hotel is overdue for deferred maintenance and modernized systems, as well as upgrades to the guest rooms and common areas. A high priority is to “reactivate the primary bar and restaurant and bring back the lobby bar as the heartbeat of Mendocino,” Better said.
Subject to the vagaries of construction, the plan is to complete the hotel work by the end of 2026, with the upgrades to the Garden Suites on a slightly faster track.
Meanwhile, those who can’t wait can still book into the Mendocino Hotel before construction begins. Shuttered since September 2024, the hotel reopened on May 15 and will remain available until Oct. 15. Ricardo Berrospi, regional director of operations for Castle Peak’s hospitality brand Trailborn, said the hotel decided to reopen for the summer season after getting a lot of requests from former guests who wanted to “stay one more time until we start renovations in the fall.”
Here’s to Susan Nash for current, calm, informative story sharing.
You must have meant 1978
No, 1878 is correct, one of the remaining original buildings in town.
Who are the general contractors?
They hired some general contractor out of Utah… so much for supporting the local economy..zero chance they actually complete the project!
I worked there in 1976-1979 as a bartender and manager. I’d certainly be interested in what kind of specific renovations they plan on doing inside the hotel and what the expected timeline for a reopening might be?
New ownership shuts the doors a year before permits are even pulled. No understanding of the way things work locally. I’m sure all the “former guests” are crashing the phone lines to relive the ultra run down tiny jail-cell-like rooms with communal bathrooms. Or maybe they need $ in a major way after shutting for a year and not even starting repairs/renovations yet. The temporary skeleton crew they just hired for this season is a good example of the decision making here. Not a hospitable person among them. They are throwing a hail mary at this point hoping they can catch it in 2027 before they go broke.