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HOSPITALITY & TOURISM: Napa planners OK 351-room Ritz-Carlton

The Napa Planning Commission unanimously approved the design for the $200 million Ritz-Carlton hotel late last month.

The 351-room project passed 3-0 and will include dining, retail space and a full-service spa. Sustainable Napa Valley representatives asked that the hotel reach LEED silver rating standards, but officials approved the plan at one grade below, LEED certified.

Developers River House Land Company of Miami will pay for about $1.3 million in road improvements and $564,000 to promote low- and moderately priced housing. The company plans to sell about 200 rooms as condominiums that owners can occupy up to 29 days a year.

The City Council will host a public hearing on the project July 15.

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Wen Chang, the creator of the nation’s first LEED gold certified hotel in Napa, announced the grand opening of a second Gaia hotel and spa in the Sacramento River region.

The Gaia Anderson Hotel & Spa in Redding was built for about $14 million and opened for business May 1. The hotel includes 122 green rooms with low-VOC paints, recycled carpets and energy-saving heating and cooling systems. About 12 percent of the hotel is powered by solar panels and all wood used in the structure is certified new growth.

The facility includes a 5,000-square foot meeting space, restaurant and full-service spa. The project is the hotelier’s second green hotel, after completing the $20-million Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa in American Canyon last year.

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Basin Street Hospitality, a division of Basin Street Properties, broke ground on a 102-room Hampton Inn & Suites in Suisun City last month. The hotel is scheduled to open in summer 2009 and is located on Harbor Center Drive, adjacent to the Suisun City Waterfront.

The facility will include an outdoor pool, spa and meeting space.

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Los Altos-based developers Equity Venture Partners will open its first Napa project this year as the first hotel in the Napa Gateway business park.

The Marriott Springhill Suites will be the closest hotel to the airport and is expected to open this December after breaking ground late last year. The 65,000-square-foot building is located on a five-acre site at 101 East Gateway Boulevard near the corner of Highways 29 and 12.

The three-story hotel will have 100 all-suite rooms with a pool, spa, bar, meeting rooms and large conference rooms.

Owners Clifford Rudolph and William Maston will spend $20 million to $25 million on the project.

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Executive chef Jeffrey Madura retired from the kitchen of Vintners Inn’s John Ash & Co. restaurant after 20 years of service.

Hotel owners Don and Rhonda Carano, who also run Ferrari-Carano Vineyards, have appointed chef Tom Schmidt head of kitchen, and he will take over Aug. 1. The California native worked in the Bay Area for many years before opening his own restaurant in Germany.

Mr. Madura will not be taking a position with another restaurant at this time.

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A recent report from the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries shows that more than 5 million foreign travelers visited California last year for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks on the world trade center.

According to the report released June 3, approximately 5.2 million overseas travelers visited the state, which is a 12.4 percent increase over 2006.

California now accounts for about 22 percent of all United States visitors, which adds about $16.7 billion to the state’s economy. The largest increases came from German travelers, up 33.6 percent, followed by French visits, which increased 27.4 percent.

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Submit items for this column to D. Ashley Verrill at 707-579-2900 ext. 215, averrill@busjrnl.com or fax 707-579-8475.

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