People living in El Cajon now have an upscale option for hosting family and friends and it only took about 100 years.
The framing is nearly complete on El Cajon’s first hotel, which sits just off Main Street in the heart of downtown.
“Oh I’m excited because I know with a nice hotel, it’ll bring in nice businesses,” said Monica Zech, the City of El Cajon's Public Information Officer.
El Cajon has plenty of smaller motels, but the 4-star, 120-room Courtyard Marriott symbolizes the city’s recent revitalization.
“It’s going to be a really high-end hotel for them. It’s going to be a beautiful hotel,” said Danny Alvaraz, the project’s construction superintendent.
The hotel fills a huge hospitality gap along the county’s inland I-8 corridor. There are no hotels between Mission Valley and the Viejas Indian Reservation east of Alpine.
Whether it’s a wedding, funeral, or major holiday the hotel now gives people in El Cajon their first local option for upscale lodging.
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But, Zech says the real driver might be some of El Cajon’s growing businesses who have needed a nearby place to host visiting clients and contractors.
“Just a lot of manufacturers people don’t realize are here in this huge industrial area between El Cajon and Gillespie Field and the airport area,” said Zech.
The Courtyard Marriott might be the city’s first hotel, but it won’t be the last.
Plans are already underway for a Hampton Inn which will be located near Parkway Plaza at the site of the city’s old police station.
