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Business & Tech

No Chateau: Kenwood Investments Releases New Hotel Design

Smaller in size, more parking, but same 59-room capacity hotel may play off Jack London theme for local appeal

Kenwood Investments, the financial firm founded by Darius Anderson that is behind the proposed 59-room hotel on West Napa, has released new architect’s renderings of its controversial project.

First released on their Facebook page , the design is more English than French, and while the footprint is somewhat smaller the room total remains the same. In the new design, offsite staff parking spaces have been added, increasing the project's total parking capacity.

The project, formerly known as Chateau Sonoma, was the spark for a community petition effort from Preserving Sonoma that will soon be circulated for signatures. Their Hotel Limitation Initiative will limit any new hotel or the expansion of an existing one larger than 25 rooms, unless the city's hotel occupancy rate exceeds 80 percent

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“Key changes include shrinking the total project by 7,000-square feet, removing the Lynch building from the project and including one restaurant instead of two,” according to an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The Index-Tribune building, an adjacent warehouse and an antique store, all owned by Anderson, will be razed to make way for the hotel complex.

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But the new design spares the Lynch building, which is now occupied by Sonoma Bank, offices and apartments.

“Through our outreach meetings we learned that many thought the French theme did not fit in Sonoma. The new design has been recast to better reflect Sonoma's historic character and evoke Sonoma’s historic architectural forms,” according to a statement on the Kenwood Investments Proposed Hotel  Facebook page.

“The proposed hotel has been designed to comply with Sonoma's General Plan,” the page says in a post, so there are “No variances needed!”

Another post reads, “One of the ways the new hotel will celebrate ‘Sonoma’ is by featuring an extensive collection of Jack London memorabilia.”

Anderson is cited in the Press Democrat as hoping to “open a bar at the site called ‘First Edition,’ and include some of the artifacts he has collected that are related to the famous author's life and works.”

Anderson is a principal of Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat, as well as the Sonoma Index Tribune.

Still, there’s no indication what this proposed lodging will now be called – unless it’s simply Kenwood Investments Proposed Hotel. Catchy.

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