Feb 28, 2014 2 min read

In five months, guests may be living it up at the Hotel California.

Construction on the facility officially known as the Hampton Inn & Suites is progressing in California Technology Park, just off Malden Road. Walls for three of the four stories are up, and once the fourth-floor walls are in place, the frame will be contained and interior work can begin.

Bear Construction of Southpointe is handling the project.

Bill McGowen, executive director of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, said “it may be under roof by the end of March – providing we have good weather.”

Good weather?

If that does happen, McGowen anticipates an August opening.

That would be two years later than initially planned. Ground was broken Sept. 22, 2011, with a fall 2012 target for completion. Construction, however, didn’t begin for two years – until September 2013 – because of budgetary measures and, to a lesser extent, soil issues.

“It will have a nice view of Route 43,” said McGowen, whose authority owns the 138-acre technology park.

The 50,000-square-foot hotel is being built on a five-acre lot at an estimated cost of $11 million. It also will be near Interstate 70, Route 40 and, of course, California University of Pennsylvania.

Cal U. officials are hoping the hotel helps to draw concerts, conventions and executive conferences to the $59 million convocation center on campus.

There will be plenty of rooms in the Hotel California, 84, in an area underserved by short- or long-stay rooms. California Borough does not have a hotel.

A restaurant also is planned on the lot adjacent to the Hampton Inn. “We’re working to further analyze the type of restaurant we want,” McGowen said. “We hope to be building a restaurant this summer.

He added the Redevelopment Authority also has gotten approval for a $200,000 grant for improvements to Technology Drive in the park. The grant is from the 2014 Washington County Local Share Account, which is funded by 2013 gaming revenue from The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.