Hi, Beth, according to their website, sthelenaresort.com, a preliminary traffic study is being worked on and the results will be published on that site. I expect an EIR will be required for this project and traffic is one of the impacts, although the developers say the use of the Napa Valley Wine Train, which runs from Napa to Charles Krug, will reduce traffic. Thanks for the question.
Thanks to NVF for paying attention to the proposed hotels in St.Helena (Bank of America space, Farmstead, Krug, (and perhaps Hall Winery and the eventual Rosewood hotel on the hill between St. Helena and Calistoga?) as well as the Freemark Abbey proposed 79-room resort just north of St. Helena, very near Krug. We neighbors near Krug and F.Abbey share worries about excess traffic, light, sound, events, and the years of construction, as well as safety and more traffic worry on narrow Lodi Lane where Freemark guests will be encouraged to walk across to view the restaurant’s garden. We appreciate the expected tax $ to the city and county as result of all the 100s of guests expected to flow into all the rooms every night, but we do need to be heard as nearby residents who will be affected, even to added difficulty entering and exiting our hillside homes. A question: Do the many new-hotel owners truly expect to fill all their rooms daily?
If all of them are built, I am expecting not, they will not all fill. There are now a lot of options for visitors in Calistoga and Napa (we kinda missed the boat). If one or two of them are built I think they will do well. That said, if I had my druthers, I would prefer those projects within St Helena city limits to get built, specifically the Krug project (since it has water, supposedly).
I was told last weekend the reason our hotels have so many open rooms as they charge too much. It is cheaper to go to Europe from the east coast than to Napa Valley. And if the wine industry takes a step backward in production and favor what happens to all those rooms. Apartments for the workers?
The tourist industry has its ups and downs. And the people building them don't seem to care.
Huh? Of course those building hotels care!!! That is where their profit is and, believe me, after being in the Napa Valley hotel business for 40 years, we care!! The current hotels we have were all built pre-covid, pre-wildfire. Of course there is going to be a huge drop in occupancy. I remember the bad press we got for one year of flooding 20 or so years ago. It took a couple of years to get over one winter of flooding! Then there was the fire back in, what, 82? Again, it took a couple of years before I could stop assuring guests over the phone that the whole valley didn't burn up! Covid was huge! Wildfires were huge! Smoke-taint was huge! New hotels will not be built, even if they are approved, if demand doesn't rebound!!!
Heard that occupancy rate is 40% at hotels in Napa Valley this year. Should we disrupt our lives with more hotels to generate taxes, then the rooms don't fill up??? The income would not be generated to local government ----but public expense and misery to locals will continue.
Yeah, obviously new hotels won't be built if occupancy doesn't improve valley-wide. Those proposing hotels will wait to see what happens with post-covid, post-wildfire occupancy. Then they will watch to see what other hotels are actually being built. These are huge investments. Believe me, none of them will be built without solid demand. I figure these projects are just getting in line to see if there is an opportunity and then they can decide to build if there is a 90% chance of at least 70% yearly occupancy (95% in full-season, 70% in mid-season and 35% in off-season).
I wonder if the Krug project includes a traffic signal at Deerpark and 29?
Hi, Beth, according to their website, sthelenaresort.com, a preliminary traffic study is being worked on and the results will be published on that site. I expect an EIR will be required for this project and traffic is one of the impacts, although the developers say the use of the Napa Valley Wine Train, which runs from Napa to Charles Krug, will reduce traffic. Thanks for the question.
Napa Valley wine train as the solution? 🤣
Thanks to NVF for paying attention to the proposed hotels in St.Helena (Bank of America space, Farmstead, Krug, (and perhaps Hall Winery and the eventual Rosewood hotel on the hill between St. Helena and Calistoga?) as well as the Freemark Abbey proposed 79-room resort just north of St. Helena, very near Krug. We neighbors near Krug and F.Abbey share worries about excess traffic, light, sound, events, and the years of construction, as well as safety and more traffic worry on narrow Lodi Lane where Freemark guests will be encouraged to walk across to view the restaurant’s garden. We appreciate the expected tax $ to the city and county as result of all the 100s of guests expected to flow into all the rooms every night, but we do need to be heard as nearby residents who will be affected, even to added difficulty entering and exiting our hillside homes. A question: Do the many new-hotel owners truly expect to fill all their rooms daily?
If all of them are built, I am expecting not, they will not all fill. There are now a lot of options for visitors in Calistoga and Napa (we kinda missed the boat). If one or two of them are built I think they will do well. That said, if I had my druthers, I would prefer those projects within St Helena city limits to get built, specifically the Krug project (since it has water, supposedly).
I was told last weekend the reason our hotels have so many open rooms as they charge too much. It is cheaper to go to Europe from the east coast than to Napa Valley. And if the wine industry takes a step backward in production and favor what happens to all those rooms. Apartments for the workers?
The tourist industry has its ups and downs. And the people building them don't seem to care.
Huh? Of course those building hotels care!!! That is where their profit is and, believe me, after being in the Napa Valley hotel business for 40 years, we care!! The current hotels we have were all built pre-covid, pre-wildfire. Of course there is going to be a huge drop in occupancy. I remember the bad press we got for one year of flooding 20 or so years ago. It took a couple of years to get over one winter of flooding! Then there was the fire back in, what, 82? Again, it took a couple of years before I could stop assuring guests over the phone that the whole valley didn't burn up! Covid was huge! Wildfires were huge! Smoke-taint was huge! New hotels will not be built, even if they are approved, if demand doesn't rebound!!!
Heard that occupancy rate is 40% at hotels in Napa Valley this year. Should we disrupt our lives with more hotels to generate taxes, then the rooms don't fill up??? The income would not be generated to local government ----but public expense and misery to locals will continue.
Yeah, obviously new hotels won't be built if occupancy doesn't improve valley-wide. Those proposing hotels will wait to see what happens with post-covid, post-wildfire occupancy. Then they will watch to see what other hotels are actually being built. These are huge investments. Believe me, none of them will be built without solid demand. I figure these projects are just getting in line to see if there is an opportunity and then they can decide to build if there is a 90% chance of at least 70% yearly occupancy (95% in full-season, 70% in mid-season and 35% in off-season).