Appellation Healdsburg opens as SMART rail nears
Two bits of news making the rounds these days show that Healdsburg is moving north – not physically, of course, but there is a momentum building. First evidence is the busy, optimistic vibe on Friday, Sept. 12 at Appellation Healdsburg, the new restaurant-resort on the north end of town (100 Dovetail Road on the map) overlooking Enso Village. The hotel started taking in lodgers two days earlier, and by the weekend nearly every one of its 180 rooms were filled, and the main restaurant, the Folia Bar & Kitchen, was hopping.
It’s a joint project by Chef Charlie Palmer and hospitality director Christopher Hunsberger. Palmer came to Healdsburg in the early 2000s, opening his Dry Creek Kitchen in the then-new Hotel Healdsburg. He has since made Healdsburg his home, elevated his name into a brand and now has nine restaurants across the country. Palmer and Hunsberger are now launching the new Appellation line of resorts. Though five are in the works – including one in Petaluma that is having trouble getting local support – Appellation Healdsburg is the first one built “from the ground up,” Palmer said. He added, “This is Healdsburg’s home,” and asserted that Healdsburg is “one of the most special places in the world.”
The opening on Sept. 12 was well-covered in the local press, and photographer Rick Tang created an inviting gallery on Facebook. Tang, by the way, has become the go-to-shooter for the Healdsburg Tribune, always ready and willing and always delivering. Check out his site ricktangphotography.com for more of his excellent work.
The other going-north news concerns SMART, which several months ago committed to an extension to Healdsburg and has now has okayed a $21.75 design contract to get the show on the road. Total project cost for the 9-mile extension to Healdsburg from Windsor is estimated at $268.7 million, including the redesign and rebuilding of the Railroad Bridge over the Russian River. Given the local hubbub that rebuilding the Memorial Bridge itself generated in 2015, we might expect a similar kerfuffle as the old train trestle is eyed for replacement. The historic Depot on Hudson Street is the projected location for the passenger platform, and meanwhile local residents are working to create a Station Area Plan (not a “stationary plan”! ) to manage development of the forgotten neighborhoods near the Depot.
By the way, the money available for the extension from Windsor to Healdsburg includes a budget for making the rail SMART-worthy all the way north to Lytton Springs Road, opening the door to a possible North Healdsburg station in the future – to serve Enzo Village, Appellation Healdsburg and the North Village residential town homes also under construction there.
Along with the rail services, SMART has also committed to building a parallel pedestrian-bike pathway along the old railroad easement for the 70-mile length of the train service. The plan has usually generated high community support – until a big handful of property owners (about 65 of them) along the line balked, holding that a pedestrian easement was not part of the railroad easement. There was the usual back-and-forth, negotiation and litigation, until the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit board voted last week to cut to the chase, and seized the land via “eminent domain” to make sure that SMART’s plans continue uninterrupted. One of the segments so seized is a 2.6-mile leg from Airport Boulevard in Santa Rosa to Windsor River Road in Windsor; the others are in Petaluma, Penngrove and Santa Rosa. The attorney for the property owners however saw the seizure as a “maneuver” that “won’t change the eventual result” of the lawsuit, according to local reporting.
That’s where we are mid-week in Healdsburg, looking forward to a busy weekend with the Arts Festival, Short Film Festival, African musicians coming to town and Windsor Town Day just down the road on Saturday. But don’t miss tonight’s Planning Commission meeting where the latest incarnation of The Ruse B&B will be revealed as a “luxurious 13 bed Substance Use Disorder Facility.” We can’t wait to see who checks in, and out.
