People have long enjoyed sampling Temecula Valley wine and shopping in Old Town Temecula, before getting back into their cars and driving home. But visitors to the southwest Riverside County tourist hot spot are increasingly spending several days in the area. And big projects under construction or in the planning stages are poised to accelerate that trend.
“We’re becoming a hub destination,” Kimberly Adams, Visit Temecula Valley founding president and CEO, said by phone.
“What we’re hearing from consumers is that there is so much to do here,” Adams said. “They used to see us as a day trip. And we have been transformed into a place where people are staying overnight.”
The market has noticed. And developers are capitalizing on the trend as they come up with ambitious plans. Construction continues Thursday, Aug. 1, at Europa Village in Temecula Valley Wine Country.
Ten rooms will be constructed in a Spanish-themed resort called Bolero. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Adams said area hotels sold out nearly every weekend until a $300 million Pechanga Resort and Casino expansion completed last year nearly doubled the number of guest rooms there to 1,090.
The expansion boosted the Temecula area’s total lodging inventory to 2,854 rooms, she said. Still more rooms are coming to Temecula Valley Wine Country and Old Town, promising not only to further boost the overall supply, she said, but also to significantly expand the offering of luxury accommodations. “It definitely helps us appeal to a higher-end customer,” Adams said. Prominent projects in the works include: * The Europa Village winery is building 10 hotel rooms.
Eventually, a total of 70 rooms will be available there. * Developer Bernard “Bernie” L. Truax II plans to break ground in September on a 185-room hotel in Old Town, then begin building in early 2020 an open-air marketplace across the street from Temecula City Hall. *
Plans are advancing for a new Twelve Oaks Winery on Temecula Valley Wine Country’s east side, near Lake Skinner. The proposal includes a 251-room hotel. On the other end of Wine Country, Europa Village is aiming to secure “at least a four-diamond rating” for a resort it is building in several phases, Temecula developer Dan Stephenson said.
“It’s a step up from what we have in the marketplace right now,” he said. The expanding accommodations, near the Wine Country gateway at Temecula’s city limit, will make visitors feel like they are staying in a European village, Stephenson said. “As you walk through the courtyard … you can be in either France, Spain or Italy,” he said.
Under construction is Bolero at Europa Village, a 10-room Spanish-themed resort. It is expected to be finished in March 2020, Stephenson said. About that time, he said, ground is expected to be broken on a 40-room, Italian-themed Vienza Resort.
Then, in 2022, construction should begin on Europa’s French-themed Cest le Vie Resort, which will have 10 rooms, Stephenson said. Complimenting the 10 existing rooms at the Inn at Europa Village, the gateway winery eventually will offer visitors the choice of 70 places to stay. Old Town developer Truax, meanwhile, intends to begin building his $135 million, 185-room, Truax Hotel in September.
He, too, is aiming for a four-diamond rating as he targets the tourist and business traveler that intends to stay in the area three to four days. The building will feature five architectural styles representing five eras of Temecula history, Truax said. It will have banquet-conference rooms, boutique shops, a rooftop patio, a wedding venue and other amenities, he said.
It could open in summer 2021. Opening in early 2021, he said, will be the nearby $45 million Truax Marketplace. It will be a pair of three-story, 50,536-square-foot, retail centers across the street from city hall on either side of the Old Town park and fountain.
Truax termed it a throwback to the early days of Temecula when “ranchers and the farmers would bring their goods and come downtown to sell them off the back of their wagons.” He envisions the Marketplace, with its Mission Revival architecture, becoming the focal point of Old Town activity.
“It’s an open-air market inside of a building, meant to be able to get all the small retailers, all the start-up people, all these specialty things that would never use a big space,” Truax said Friday, Aug. 2. Darcy Burke, a marketing consultant for Truax, called the Marketplace a place where people will leisurely stroll among shops while tasting wine, sampling craft beers and checking out local businesses’ products. Adams said the Truax projects are “going to change the landscape of Old Town Temecula.”
Down the road, the planned 631-acre Twelve Oaks Resort and Winery at Buck and Rancho California roads is destined to change the landscape of Wine Country — and create an eastern gateway for the area, Adams said. Approved by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in March, Twelve Oaks will have a winery with a tasting room, production facility and accompanying vineyard, said David DiRienzo, owner of Urban West in Newport Beach and a project consultant.
It will have a wedding pavilion, an “event barn,” shops, restaurants and an outdoor dining area, DiRienzo said. Twelve Oaks also will have places to stay overnight.
The winery’s plans include a three-story, 251-room, Marriott hotel, DiRienzo said. Construction could get underway on the resort by summer 2020, he said, and it could open in late 2022 or early 2023. Related links.
There is a residential component. DiRienzo said plans call for building 76 single-family homes on lots ranging from 1 to 5 acres, and 21 estate homes on 10 to more than 20 acres. A Visit Temecula Valley news release states that the economic impact of the area’s tourism industry surpassed $1 billion in 2018, as the Pechanga casino, dozens of wineries, numerous shops and growing number of hotels collectively drew 3.1 million visitors. Adams said the new attractions will only serve to bolster the industry’s impact more and are in line with the long-term vision adopted by Riverside County in 2014 for the Wine Country’s expansion. “The projects are just getting better and better,” she said.
https://www.pe.com/2019/08/05/temecula-area-to-get-hundreds-of-high-end-hotel-rooms-new-winery/
Workers continue building Thursday, Aug. 1, at Europa Village in Temecula Valley Wine Country. Completion is expected in March 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
By David Downey | ddowney@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise PUBLISHED: August 5, 2019 at 9:00 am | UPDATED: August 5, 2019 at 4:58 pm Dave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. https://www.pe.com/2019/08/05/temecula-area-to-get-hundreds-of-high-end-hotel-rooms-new-winery/
