{"id":473210,"date":"2026-09-23T16:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473210\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:34:10","slug":"inside-the-21m-transformation-of-storied-hotel-in-little-italy-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473210\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the $21M transformation of storied hotel in Little Italy \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

La Pensione Hotel, a hospitality staple in Little Italy for more than three decades, is undergoing a $21 million transformation by the same San Diego firm that has brought more than a half-dozen signature bars and restaurants to the downtown neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Purchased five years ago by CH Projects for nearly $18 million, the boutique hotel, which began life as an SRO for low-income residents, is currently closed as the owner upgrades all 67 rooms and adds three food and beverage venues where today there are none.<\/p>\n

Construction work on the W. Date Street property started about five months ago, and the Pensione makeover is expected to be complete by January of 2028, said CH co-founder Arsalun Tafazoli.<\/p>\n

While CH is widely known for such dining destinations as Born & Raised and Ironside Oyster, both in Little Italy, its sole focus these days is hotels. It currently is adding a Turkish-inspired spa to the entirely redone Lafayette hotel on El Cajon Boulevard, it opened the smaller Baby Grand hotel in Coronado in May, and is awaiting city approval of permits for its single biggest hospitality project<\/a> \u2014 a combination hotel, wellness center, restaurant, and CH\u2019s headquarters, to be located on northeast corner of Kettner Boulevard and West Juniper Street.<\/p>\n

The unnamed hotel, which Tafazoli hopes to break ground on in January, was originally going to be dubbed Dreamboat. In a branding shift, the company now is going to rename La Pensione Dreamboat, as first reported by the website, Sandiegoville.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to call Pensione something else, and then we were updating the branding for the Kettner\/India project and decided it no longer should be Dreamboat,\u201d Tafazoli said. \u201cSomeone on our design team said, \u2018I feel like Dreamboat now makes much less sense, but it makes way more sense for this project (Pensione).\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we kind of looked at it, and agreed, You always want the best idea. But nothing is changing programmatically with the Kettner project. It\u2019s just a branding change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ConstructionConstruction continues on La Pensione Hotel, which will become Dreamboat when it reopens in 2028. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The name change, Tafazoli said, is driven, in part, by the planned room decor, which is designed to mimic the feel of a train, plane or cruise ship cabin where the furnishings are immobile and built into the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith furniture, they\u2019re typically loose pieces, kind of strewn about with different finishes and materials,\u201d Tafazoli explained. \u201cBut when you\u2019re in a train, a plane, a boat, it\u2019s very much a singular feeling, and there are a lot of through lines and common features.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe renovated rooms in the future Dreamboat hotel in Little Italy are meant to mimic the decor of a train or cruise ship cabin where the furniture is immobile and built into the environment. (CH Projects)<\/p>\n

Beyond the room upgrades, CH will be adding its version of a Korean barbecue restaurant, plus a cocktail lounge that it is developing with the help of a New York-based firm. There will be a third concept, but that one is currently under development, Tafazoli said.<\/p>\n

Because of the hotel\u2019s proximity to so many dining and nightlife venues that have been developed over the years by CH Projects, Dreamboat is being treated as part of a larger hospitality complex within Little Italy, Tafazoli said. Guests who want breakfast can head across the street to Morning Glory. If they want to splurge on a special occasion restaurant, there\u2019s Born & Raised a few doors down.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, we have a hotel right in the middle of Little Italy,\u201d Tafazoli said, \u201cand within a few blocks are seven other projects that act as a continuation of that hotel, all under the same umbrella, right? So it\u2019s like all these different experiences essentially become a part of the same stay at the hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many of San Diego\u2019s hotels downtown are within walking distance of a variety of dining destinations, Dreamboat is unique, Tafazoli says, because so many of those high-profile destinations were created by the same developer \u2014 CH.<\/p>\n

Even as the developer continues work on the reimagining of La Pensione, it\u2019s also finalizing the permitting process for the Little Italy hotel. The budget is still being refined, but Tafazoli expects the cost to be somewhere around $70 million, not including the $16 million expense of acquiring seven properties for the hotel site.<\/p>\n

The first step in the construction stage will be demolishing those properties and clearing the overall site. It will take five months alone for excavation and shoring, Tafazoli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping to have a permit in the next few weeks, but it\u2019s been land correction hell,\u201d Tafazoli said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a lot of back and forth, and we had to do more trenching and more follow-ups,\u00a0 but we are very close to having our permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

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