High Hopes for Pier South Hotel On Display at First Official Event

The South County Economic Development Council (SCEDC) held its biggest ever Elected Officials reception on the deck at Pier South Hotel Sept. 26, according SCEDC Executive Director Cindy Gompper-Graves.

Now in its ninth year, more than 400 people joined 48 public officials from the Port of San Diego, Chula Vista, Coronado, National City, San Diego, South San Diego school districts and Mexican cities of Tijuana and Tecate.

"There are many people who hadn't been to Imperial Beach ever and several people said they hadn't been here for a long time. So the restaurant and the hotel are attracting people back here," Gompper-Graves said. "Because you have to want to go to IB to go to IB. It's not the sort of place you just drive through."

Pier South Hotel is scheduled to complete construction Nov. 1 and to receive its first guests later this year, a Pacifica Companies official told the Imperial Beach City Council last month.

Food at the reception was served by the Cohn Restaurant Group and the Sea 180 Coastal Tavern chefs Jack Fisher and Ken Irvine.

A line formed as attendees sought a sneak peak at the hotel and models rooms. Also on display at the event was an optimism that the hotel will be part of a transformation of Imperial Beach.

Mary Ann Sanvictores was excited to see the inside of the new hotel. During a tour he touched the walls, took pictures and talked with people about what the hotel could mean to the area.

Sanvictores grew up in Imperial Beach and thinks the new hotel that has been discussed for more than a decade will transform the most southwest city in the continental United States.

Realtor Gary Trieschman, also a lifetime resident of Imperial Beach said he has not heard anyone over exaggerate about how the hotel may change IB.

He believes the new hotel will bring new people to the area and over time will increase beachfront property value and attract new businesses. It may even create some new Imperial Beachians, so long as people appreciate the diverse parts of the city that calls itself one of the last original beach towns of Southern California.

"We all know what it is" that makes Imperial Beach special, Trieschmann said.

What will occupy an empty lot across the street from the hotel currently being used as a staging area for construction: "That's the million dollar question," he said.

Elected officials and hotel executives passed the microphone around at the start of the reception.

Pacifica Companies Chairman Ash Israni said the hotel will be a success because of "a series of partnerships" designed to "upgrade everything that the hotel [originally] had."

Since the project broke ground, D'ames Day Spa has been invited to open a spa on the ground floor, Cohn Restaurant Group has agreed to provide all food to guests, conference rooms and at Sea 180 Coastal Tavern and the hotel is now part of the Marriott Autograph Collection.

"We're about to open a job fair here and will hire a lot of locals hopefully," he said. 

A job fair is scheduled to take place Oct. 9 on the deck where the elected officials reception was held.

"At the city level, to get a project like this done, it takes a lot of work from developers like Ash and from public officials that have the boldness, the courage and the vision to get a project like this done," said Port Commissioner Dan Malcolm, who represents the city of Imperial Beach.

All elected officials were told to wear a hat. Some had a pirate hat, witch hat, bowlers, fedoras.  Mayor Jim Janney wore a camouflage hunting cap and used his time to thank Pacifica Companies Chairman Ash Israni.

"Number one though I would like to thank Ash Israni," Janney said. "Because he didn't really explain it that he has taken Imperial Beach under his wing; he has adopted this hotel and put more into it than anybody could have expected."

"He's gone overboard, a lot more than myself and the previous councils and the present councils have ever expected," Janney said. 

What do you think? Will Pier South Hotel change Imperial Beach? Do you think the hotel is ready to succeed? Share in comments.