A Timeless Icon, Restored for the Future ? The US Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Diego, has stood as a symbol of elegance and history in downtown San Diego for over a century. Thanks to a $4 million investment by our owners, Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation, our historic fa?ade has been meticulously restored to its original grandeur. This project was more than just preservation—it was a tribute to the legacy of our landmark, ensuring its beauty and strength for generations to come. Led by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. and guided by the vision of our General Manager Douglas Korn, the restoration carefully blended modern craftsmanship with historic authenticity, uncovering original details and revitalizing the very essence of our iconic hotel. Key contributors to the project included Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc. and Hamilton Pacific Inc as the contractor working with the dedicated team at The US Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Diego. We are honored to continue our legacy of excellence and grateful to our owners for their dedication to preserving history. Here’s to the next century of timeless hospitality! #USGrantHotel #HistoricPreservation #Sycuan #SanDiegoLandmark #TimelessLuxury #SanDiegoHistory #HospitalityExcellence #SycuanBandoftheKumeyaayNation #LuxuryCollection #DowntownSanDiego
US Grant Hotel Gets $4M Facelift HOSPITALITY: Sycuan Band Restores Iconic Building ‘For Future Generations’ By?Ray HuardSAN DIEGO – The US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego is presenting a new face to the world with a renovated fa?ade, courtesy of a $4 million restoration project to make the downtown hotel look much the same as it did when it opened in 1910. “This project was about more than repairing a building. It was about honoring over a century of history and preserving it for future generations,” said Doug Korn, the hotel’s general manager. Led by Wiss, Janney, Elster (WJE) Associates, based in Illinois, the project required a considerable amount of detective work combined with a little bit of guesswork. There was no such thing as color photography back when the hotel was built, so figuring out something as simple as what color to paint the building took some doing. Old painted postcards helped, but it took more digging, chipping through layers of old paint on the building to get down to the earliest coats, then analyzing paint chips by microscope. “It was kind of a fun, deep dive,” said Ann Harrer, WJE lead architect. “The biggest challenge was completing durable repairs to blend in completely and make everything look like it was original while using modern materials and practices that did not exist during original construction,” Harrer said. Owned by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the hotel has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The tribe had made numerous repairs since then, but over time, deterioration caused by exposure to moisture, salt in the air and just the age of the building meant that simple repairs were no longer sufficient, and the tribe wanted to restore it to last for another century, Korn said. “All things considered, this building was in great shape for being 110 years old and being this close to the coast,” Harrer said. “It’s obviously been well cared for.” Even so, Korn said that paint was flaking off, some of the concrete on the fa?ade had deteriorated to the point where it was in danger of breaking off in chunks. “Construction practices 110 years ago weren’t as consistent as they are now and there was no quality control,” Harrer said. “We were kind of surprised by some of the construction practices or how some things were constructed.” https://lnkd.in/gPpvtE9z #commercialrealestate #construction #renovation #historicrenovation #hotel #architecture #design