Construction starts on 8-acre Healdsburg ‘approachable luxury’ hotel campus

Construction is underway on Appellation Healdsburg, the first of four planned projects under chef Charlie Palmer and hospitality veteran Christopher Hunsberger’s growing Appellation brand.

Appellation Healdsburg will include a 108-room hotel with guest rooms and suites spread across 12 buildings, two pools, a spa, 15,500 square feet of event space and more — all centered around a 4,700-square-foot restaurant serving Palmer’s cuisine and local wines.

It may not come as a surprise that Appellation, founded in 2018, is positioned as a merger of the culinary and hospitality worlds.

The project officially broke ground March 4, and is targeted for completion in the summer of 2025, said Bill Wilhelm, president of R.D. Olson Construction, an Irvine-based general contracting firm. It is building the hotel portion of the 8-acre Appellation Healdsburg campus.

Wilhelm said he expects R.D. Olson’s construction costs for the hotel will range between $70 million and $80 million, and that the total cost for Appellation Healdsburg will be “north of $100 million.”

“It’s definitely north of $100 million,” said Ed Skapinok, chief commercial officer for Appellation. The project also is comprised of 53 units of affordable workforce housing, and a retail and market-rate housing component, he said.

Appellation is based in Healdsburg and is home to co-founders Palmer and Hunsberger.

“So Healdsburg really is kind of the perfect place for us to launch the brand,” said Skapinok. “Charlie moved here over 20 years ago and started Dry Creek Kitchen, and was part of the group that built Hotel Healdsburg.”

In addition to being a renowned chef, Palmer, who serves as Appellation’s CEO, is a hospitality entrepreneur with a dozen restaurants spread across New York, Nevada and California, including at Hotel Healdsburg and Archer Napa.

Hunsberger, who is chief operations officer, has 35 years of luxury hotel operations and management experience at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

“They've known each other and had worked together on projects, restaurants (and) inside hotels for the better part of 20 years, off and on,” Skapinok said. “They had an interest in another hotel company that they sold, and that became the seed capital to start Appellation.”

The co-founders have positioned their brand as a 4.5-star hotel that is about “approachable luxury,” meaning more about comfort and connection over formality and extravagance.

“We still will appeal to the audience that wants a luxury experience,” Skapinok said. “Chris (Hunsberger) likes to say we're not going to have the kind of hotels where you feel like you need to change your clothes to walk across the lobby.”

Appellation is also building projects in Petaluma, Pacific Grove and Sun Valley, Idaho, all targeted to open in 2026, Skapinok said.

Additionally, Appellation is in the early stages for a couple of projects in Nevada, and has been eyeing sites in Oregon and Utah, Skapinok said.

“Right now, our focus is on the Western U.S.,” he said.

Appellation Healdsburg will be located in the city’s North Village, across the way from Montage Healdsburg. The project is a partnership between Appellation, R.D. Olson Construction and Comstock Development.

R.D. Olson Construction’s partners on Appellation Healdsburg include architect Hart Howerton, EDG Interior Architecture & Design, structural engineers IMEG, MEP engineers EXP, civil engineer Carlile Macy, and soils engineer Kleinfelder.

Cheryl Sarfaty covers tourism, hospitality, health care and employment. Reach her at cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4259.