Construction ahead of schedule for El Paseo hotel

Construction on a four star hotel in the El Paseo shopping district in Palm Desert is well underway and small businesses are looking forward to the possibility of having new customers.

Hotel Paseo is going to be the first major upscale hotel built near the high-end shopping center.

“We are a bit ahead of schedule. We will be finished by July of 2017 and I believe the opening is slated for October of 2017,” said Fred East, project executive for Watkins Landmark Construction.

Construction began a few months ago on and now builders are planing on opening five months ahead of when originally planned.

The $36 million four star hotel will have 152 rooms along with a spa and 24-hour room service. The hotel will not be owned by a national brand, but will be a part of the Marriott’s Autograph Collection; therefore people will be able to book rooms through the Marriott website.

SEE THE FULL PLANS FOR THE NEW HOTEL HERE

Business owners near the construction say the work hasn’t been terribly disruptive.

“It seems like everything is going well with not a lot of disruptions. The first few days they were doing some trenching over there we had a lot of dumpsters going down Larkspur but it lasted about a day or two and they had it done and they whipped it out pretty darn quick,” said Bert Bruning, the owner of Palm Desert Tobacco which is only about 150 feet away from the construction.

Other business owners near the hotel are looking forward to more foot traffic.

“If they go to the J.W. Marriott for the weekend then they are at that hotel and they usually don’t leave it. But if they come here maybe they will venture out a little bit further on the block,” said Carey Woods, the owner Cactus Flower Shoe Salon.

Some business owners and residents told us that Hotel Paseo is a good start, but they would like to see more upscale hotels built in Palm Desert to compete with cities like Palm Springs.

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