Piedras Blancas Motel Feasibility Study And Reuse Alternatives

In June of 2010, the California Coastal Conservancy provided a generous grant to facilitate the Piedras Blancas Motel Feasibility Study and Re Use Alternatives project. The comprehensive work included a structural analysis of existing building(s), evaluation of site constraints, evaluation of regulatory requirements, and an assessment of redevelopment options based on market research. The project also included a 10-year financial pro forma analysis to assess the feasibility of the proposed alternatives.

In May 2005, the Trust for Public Land, with $4.5 million in grant funding from the Conservancy and Federal and private funds, purchased the Piedras Blancas Motel property (Site). The site is comprised of 25 acres of coastal bluffs, two beaches, and a half-mile of shoreline located midway within the 18-mile long Hearst San Simeon State Park. Later in 2005, the property was transferred to the California Department of Parks and Recreation (State Parks). The motel has been closed to the public since 2005, however, the Site offers day-use parking and convenient beach access.

The analysis concluded that there is a lack of low cost overnight lodging facilities between Big Sur and Cambria and that the Piedras Blancas Motel Site is ideally positioned to serve this need. Reuse alternatives include repairing the motel facility and operating it as a European-style hostel, improving signage, developing trails and foot bridges and informational kiosks as well as including an educational center, expanded parking to facilitate coastal access, and building tent cabins. The report also includes architectural renderings of the development alternatives and a 10-year financial pro forma based on typical local construction costs, regional vacancy rates and rents, debt service, taxes and inflation. Several funding sources were identified as part of the project as well as a prioritization of action items.

In December of 2010, the Conservancy funded a targeted financial feasibility analysis of the proposed tent cabins. Again, financial analysis took into account local construction and material costs, local and regional rents, vacancy rates and operating expenses as well as debt service and inflation.