SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif- San Luis Obispo will soon have a Chinatown. Construction has begun, and the new Chinatown will have over 46-thousand square feet of retail space, 32 residential units and later on a 78 room hotel. According to San Luis Obispo's Economic Development Manager, Claire Clark, it will bring in a one time boost of 3.9 million dollars and 500-thousand a year after that in new tax revenue and it isn't the only incoming hotel.
"There are three hotels right now that we know are in the works, the Grenada hotel that will open in the next couple weeks, and two other larger properties, Chinatown and Garden Street Terraces," said Lindsey Miller of the Chamber of Commerce. With more hotels it opens even more doors for business like Garden Street Inn, a small bed and breakfast.
With a small budget the 13 room bed and breakfast said they can use the extra advertising that comes along with bigger hotels. "They are going to have a bigger budget to advertise so that will really help us out in the long run, they are going to bring in people, people are going to get downtown and they are also going to notice that we are downtown as well," said John Spears, the General Manager of Garden Street Inn. It isn't without a little competition. "Whatever they are charging guaranteed I'll be going down below what they are charging just to get people in here," said Spears. According to the Chamber of Commerce, more hotels is what out of towners have been asking for. "It is something the tourists have been asking for years is more downtown property," said Miller.
The developers, Copeland Property said within a couple years a large percentage of the project will be completed.
