Talk of two hotels downtown dismays many

Both Hotel Sebastopol and The Barlow Hotel are ambitious projects that would make a lot of local businesses—and the city—richer, but some locals worry about losing Sebastopol's small town vibe

The Barlow wants to replace the Guayaki Yerba Mate headquarters with a four-story, 70,000 square-foot monolith of a hotel, directly off of Highway 12. (Photo by Jim Cheney)

Two weeks ago, we published a story on the proposed “Barlow Hotel,” The Barlow’s vision for an extravagant hotel that would strive to, in their own words, “set a new standard for hospitality.”

As this was the first time many had heard about the project—or at least had learned that it was getting serious—we got some strong reactions in our comments section and also on the social media app, Nextdoor.

“Flat, boring, featureless facade!” wrote Marion A.

“Looks large and overwhelming,” added Mar M.

Many took issue not only with the hotel’s concept or location, but with the idea of such a hotel being in Sebastopol to begin with.

“Just going to make the area even more ritzy and unlivable,” declared Jessica R.

“If we want the 101 corridor lifestyle, we’d live in Healdsburg,” reckoned Mark L.

A dozen others called the hotel various iterations of “a bad idea” or a symptom of “the cancer of capitalism.” One local, Peter W., even put together an entire essay on why the hotel will “do more harm than good” for the city.

“The influx of visitors attracted by the hotel could exacerbate existing issues such as noise, pollution, and traffic congestion,” he wrote as part of a comment to our post on Nextdoor. “This development risks transforming the town into a bustling, commercial hub, thereby eroding the very qualities that make Sebastopol an attractive place to live.”

While the negativity of some was balanced out by feedback in favor of the project, it is clear that some residents view the proposition of two hotels as a threat to Sebastopol’s bohemian character or small town feel.

Some readers also questioned the feasibility of having two hotels so close together—that is, if they didn’t mistake The Barlow Hotel for being the same project as Hotel Sebastopol.

Piazza Hospitality’s proposed Hotel Sebastopol, with 66 rooms, would sit across the street from the downtown plaza and a block west of The Barlow. The Barlow Hotel, with 83 rooms, would replace the Guayakí building and warehouse in the middle of the Barlow. The Barlow Hotel has proposed a valet parking lot (with employee parking) on Morris Street. Hotel Sebastopol has been approved to place a parking garage on an adjacent parcel to the east.

Like The Barlow Hotel, the Hotel Sebastopol would feature retail space, dining, meeting rooms, a public courtyard and an outdoor rooftop deck. The hotels are expected to be around 70,000 square-feet each.

The Sebastopol Times spoke with Daniele Petrone, the project manager of Hotel Sebastopol this week. Despite the fact that many who were on board with the project expected it to be deep in construction by this point in time, he said that his team is “fully committed to the project” and “believe[s] it will be quite successful.”

“The delay in our groundbreaking is a result of two factors,” said Petrone, who went on to say that one was the “current uncertain economic climate and its associated very high lending rates” and the other was that, in order to get needed funding from the USDA, there was a long environmental approval process, which has recently been completed. The hotel seeks to be LEED-certified and perhaps one of the only “net-zero” hotels in the state.

The Hotel Sebastopol would be split up into several buildings, so as to match its surroundings.

Hotel Sebastopol’s structures would be made of “FSC redwood siding and vertical slats, carbonized redwood siding, textured concrete, a light-colored species wood siding, weathered steel panels, and covered in vine planting.” (Illustration via David Baker Architects)

It seems quite possible that Hotel Sebastopol’s and The Barlow Hotel’s construction timelines will overlap, with both hotels possibly opening up around the same time.

Sebastopol is used to having two hotels, as it did before The Sebastopol Inn off of Highway 12 was bought by the county in 2020 and turned into housing for the homeless. While only time will tell if Sebastopol can handle three hotels—including the Fairfield Inn & Suites at the south end of town—Petrone is confident there is a market for it and has connected with Barney Aldridge, the managing partner of The Barlow, to make sure the two operations are symbiotic.

“Our market studies suggest the town can absorb quite a few hotel rooms, particularly in the mid-to-high-level price points, as there is pent up demand for overnight stays,” said Petrone, who added that “lots of marketing work needs to be done to establish the market.”

Aldridge of The Barlow said he expects his hotel will attract tourists who would otherwise stay in Healdsburg. Piazza Hospitality already knows a thing or two about attracting Healdsburg tourists; three out of the four hotels that Piazza Hospitality currently operates are in Healdsburg.

City Manager Don Schwartz is also inclined to believe that Sebastopol can handle three hotels, as evidenced by Petaluma’s vibrant city center.

“I look at Petaluma which has got a downtown with a lot of locally owned shops that is in the middle of a beautiful natural area as we do, and they have a large hotel right in the middle of their downtown,” said Schwartz. “I don’t think we’re gonna be just like Petaluma, but I do think there’s room for more without fundamentally changing the nature of town.”

The Barlow is expecting its restaurants and shops to get a boost with the new hotel. Some downtown merchants think they’ll see increased foot traffic as well from the presence of more tourists in town. (Photo by Jim Cheney)

Schwartz is certainly excited about the $23.4 million of annual spending that The Barlow has projected their hotel (not to mention Hotel Sebastopol) would bring to the city, $2 million of which would go to the city government in the form of transient occupancy (TOT) taxes and sales taxes.

Business owners from across town are sure to see that cash in their books as well, as, in the words of Myriah Volk, the executive director of the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce, “Probably the number one question I get from people visiting is where can we stay where we can walk into Sebastopol.”

“The Fairfield Inn is wonderful, but it’s a walk down Highway 116,” said Volk. “People want to have a location where they can stay overnight, wake up in the morning, have breakfast downtown, and enjoy our local shops,” Volk said.

Moreover, Andrea Caron, the owner of the downtown clothing shop Silk Moon and the de facto leader of Sebastopol’s Downtown Association, is confident that the hotels are “not going to change what residents love” about Sebastopol.

“We have a lot of older people here that just don’t want change, and I understand that,” said Caron. “But for people like myself and Myriah that actually deal with merchants and tourists and people in town, we know that [the hotels] would benefit the city. So we’re looking at it in a totally different view. And, to be honest, the majority of residents here that are complaining don’t come downtown anyway.”

Most, if not all, of the most influential people in the city seem to be on board with the plan, including Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman, who was seen bantering with The Barlow’s staff at their meeting two weeks ago, along with Mayor Diana Rich.

“The challenge that a town like ours has is trying to balance the need for a vibrant community with visitors that can bring in revenue and support our businesses against the worry that having all of these new people is going to alter the character of our town,” Rich said. “I guess for me I look at this town and I think about everything that’s happened in it over the course of decades, and the character is there through the people. The music and the art and the quirkiness—that’s what makes us Sebastopol. I don’t see a hotel or any other business undermining that.”