By Claudio

We are just inside 40 days from the opening of our Temecula Wine Country Hotel. Half of the guest rooms are complete, including carpet, tile and paint. The other half will be done this week.

All inside corridors will be complete this coming week.

This is important because we are “loading” the west wing starting next Monday April 2d. Loading means moving in all furniture and supplies. The trucks will arrive and we’ll move all furniture (except the armoires, which weight 300 lbs., and will wait for the elevators) into the 30 west rooms. The following week we will load the eastern rooms.

The week after, while the contractor finishes the common areas, we will load the operating supplies into all 60 rooms. This means making all the beds, towels in the bathrooms, toiletries, etc. Finally, the last week of the month we will load the common areas.

The kitchen is almost done and will be completed this week. The bar will be done in three weeks.

The elevators should be completed in two weeks, as soon as the building is electrified. Can we make it to the April 30th opening? We think so, although it will be close.

The recent rains slowed us down some because the site is too muddy to operate. Nonetheless we have finished installing all the stone and are correcting an error in the grouting (it was too dark), have topped off the towers with the tiled domes and have finished all exterior pre-cast trim pieces.

Here we are attaching the domes to the towers. Note the dark grout on the stone. It was a sub-contractor error.

Here you can see the solution. A much lighter color is applied to cover the dark grout. The color matches the natural stone.

Note the base of the right tower with the lighter grout. The stone has not been washed so it looks painted over. Also, note the plastic covering on the stucco bases to protect them against water splash damage when it rains. Note that the gutters have not been installed. They will go up this week or the next, at the latest.

Here you can see the saltillo tile on the balconies. The wood banisters will be touched up before opening, obviously. These balconies belong to the large double queens. They will have a couple of lounge chaises to relax.

Here we can see the footings for the steel pergola in the garden. The poles will support a curved trellis that will allow us to grow table grapes. Dining will take place under it, and there will be a fireplace at the far end, roughly where the second arch from the right is visible. The rest of the garden will be “built” in the next 30 days. There will be fountains and two additional fire pits. Here’s the design: http://www.pontevineyardinn.com/blogpost-62343/The-Landscape-Design.html

Tiling of the rooms is complete and 80% of the common areas is up and grouted. The rest will be completed in the next 5 days.

Lastly, we’ve been looking for these trees and had problems finding them. They are Eucaliptus Citradora, or lemon scented eukes. Luckily we found them and will plant them on the exterior perimeter of the hotel within view of the winery. They are very fast growers and look great next to this type of architecture. Most of the other specimens trees are on their way. The 80 olives for the parking lot are planted and starting to grow.

Thanks for your support and stay tuned for the last few reports until opening.