Downtown Merced’s El Capitan Hotel coming back to life, with installation of new sign

Another historic gem in downtown Merced is starting to take shape.

Construction crews Tuesday morning installed the exterior vertical “blade” sign on the El Capitan Hotel, which has been undergoing a $15 million renovation.

Crews will soon also add the old horizontal sign to the building as well. “We can almost see the finish line. It’s been a long couple of years to process but we do believe we’ll have the hotel up and operating for our guests in the first part of 2021,” said Robin Donovan, managing director of El Capitan Hotel, Mainzer and The Tioga.

The raising of the sign at the 114-room building near M and West Main streets is symbolic of several new upgrades which have been happening downtown, the most recent of which was The Mainzer at West Main and N Streets. The Mainzer, an art deco theater which was closed for more than a decade, recently opened its restaurant.

Plus The Tioga, which is nearby, was recently renovated into apartments. The UC Merced Downtown Center, which opened in 2018, also is not far away.

The El Capitan was originally 33 rooms. “We’ve taken the 33 historic rooms and added on a new complex, we’ll have a total of 114 rooms so every room has been touched,” Donovan said.

The building will have three food and beverage outlets, plus a fitness center and meeting spaces. “Pretty much a brand new hotel, but with the outside facade of the original historic hotel,” Donovan said.

Donovan explained the site is not just a place to bring tourists from other areas — it’s a destination.

“Coming to El Capitan will not just be the gateway to Yosemite, it’s a reason to come to Merced. All the different food and beverage outlets that we have as well as our grand hotel, it’s going to make people come from other areas to Merced and see how wonderful Merced is,” Donovan said.

Donovan said the finished product will be “more modern, but still winking at its historic side,” making “everybody feel very comfortable.”

Donovan said the pandemic did add a bit of a challenge and delayed the renovation process, but right now the plan is to open the hotel in the first part of the year around February.

San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hotels partnered in the renovation of the El Capitan and The Mainzer.

More than a dozen Joie de Vivre locations can be found in California, according to the company’s website, with many more in other states.

The El Capitan was built in 1924 and restored in 1936 after a fire.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 1:30 PM.