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Donald Sodaro has a bent for taking on do-it-yourself projects.

He likes to be in the thick of it, whether it’s restoring vintage cars, flying his private jet, running a Napa winery and overseeing hotels as the chief executive of Newport Beach-based Hanford Hotels Inc.

“I’m more of a hands-on type of guy,” Sodaro said. “I’m not really a big golfer or big picture person. I prefer to get my hands dirty with the fun, nitty-gritty work.”

After recently restoring his dream car, a 1955 Chrysler 300, Sodaro is turning much of his attention to remaking the 230-room Holiday Inn Costa Mesa near South Coast Plaza into Orange County’s latest independent boutique hotel.

This week, Hanford Hotels plans to announce that it is dropping the Holiday Inn name and becoming The Hotel Hanford.

Along with the new name, plans are under way for a $7 million renovation of the inside and outside of the hotel.

It is a big change for a hotel that has been a Holiday Inn since 1973.

The hotel’s license with Holiday Inn, part of Britain’s InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, ends in November.

The hotel was set to be part of a $1 billion rebranding and remodeling Holiday Inn planned for its 3,200 hotels. Much of the cost to remake the hotel would have been shouldered by Sodaro’s company.

Sodaro estimated he would have spent more than $7 million to bring the hotel up to Holiday Inn’s new standards.

“We kept thinking if we’re going to spend that much money to meet their requirements, let’s go the extra mile and build a really unique property,” he said.

Hanford Hotels bought the hotel from Linquist & Craig Hotels & Resorts Inc. of Kansas for $13.3 million in 1999. At the time, the hotel had just undergone a $5 million renovation that upgraded the pool and rooms.

Hotel Experience

Sodaro has experience building a hotel brand from scratch.

In 1972, he and Ed Pankey started Sixpence Inns of America, a chain of 54 limited-service hotels in six states.

In 1989, the pair sold the chain and all but one hotel—the third Sixpence built and a favorite of Pankey, now known as the Key Inn in Tustin—to Motel 6.

The deal was valued at about $210 million.

Sodaro served on Motel 6’s board of directors until 1991 when the hotel chain was bought by France’s Accor.

Sodaro joined Hanford Hotels in 1995, helping the company buy and fix up hotels by pairing them with well-known brands.

With the Costa Mesa hotel, Sodaro said he sees a lot more to gain than lose in going independent.

“The way I see the market is with all the formula hotels in the area, there is a great opportunity for a unique hotel,” he said.

Of course, Sodaro is losing the appeal of Holiday Inn’s household name and its global reservation system.

But he also won’t be paying fees to be part of the Holiday Inn chain.

“When you factor in all the fees, it looked like we could do a better job as an independent,” he said.

Hanford owns and runs four other hotels: the Key Inn in Tustin, Fairfield Inns by Marriott in Anaheim Hills and San Jose, and a La Quinta Inn & Suites in Hayward.

There are no plans for any of those to go independent, Sodaro said.

The Costa Mesa hotel has no long-term debt, according to Sodaro.

“When I started out, leverage was my best friend,” Sodaro said. “But as you get older, leverage can become your worst enemy. We’ve been conservative in our business, which is why we’re still here.”

Hanford Hotels stayed on the sidelines during the hotel buying boom a few years ago.

“The prices were so outrageous and ridiculous that we couldn’t see ourselves spending that kind of money,” Sodaro said.

With the hotel market cooled, the company may look at acquisitions, he said.

For the Costa Mesa hotel, the company has hired an architect, contractor and marketing agency to help with the renovation and name change.

New management has been hired and will by overseen by Hanford Hotels.

Renovation

The renovation is set to take eight to 12 months. Work on the outside should start within the next couple months. Inside work will be done in phases.

The guest rooms will be completely redone “leaning toward contemporary with classic elements,” Sodaro said.

“We’re going with a more classic approach to appeal to the business traveler who we’d like to stay the weekend and enjoy Orange County,” he said.

Sodaro’s move has some similarities to that of the 253-room Hotel Menage, which used to be the Holiday Inn Anaheim Palms.

The hotel changed to an independent boutique in 2006—what then-partners Richard Ham and Chris Keller hoped would provide a hip alternative to the business and family hotels and motels around Disneyland.

The owners made several changes, including renaming it, painting it in a hip color scheme, enlarging the bar area and adding a pool deck, cabanas and VIP areas at the poolside bar.

Laguna Beach-based Casa Resorts Inc., who also owns La Casa Del Camino Hotel in Laguna Beach, bought the hotel in 2007 for $22.5 million.

Revenue and occupancy are down substantially for Costa Mesa hotels during the recession. Revenue per available room, a performance measure for hotels, is down 21% from a year earlier in Costa Mesa, according to Tennessee-based Smith Travel Research Inc.

Sodaro declined to offer numbers for his hotel but said it has held its own.

“Our occupancy is strong, but our average daily rate is what is going soft,” he said.

Passions

The renovation stands to dominate Sodaro’s time for the next year or so. But he said he still plans to make time for his passions.

An auto buff, Sodaro has been restoring cars with little help for years.

His collection includes his Chrysler 300, a 1957 Jaguar XK140, a 1932 Goodwill Packard and a 1942 Army Jeep. He personally restored all of them.

Up until this year, Sodaro was certified to fly his private jet but recently gave it up.

He’s involved in Chapman University in Orange, where he’s chairman of the board of trustees. Partner Pankey introduced him to the school in 1984.

Sodaro was invited to join the board in 1988 and became the chairman in 2002 after businessman George Argyros resigned to become ambassador to Spain up until 2004.

Sodaro and wife Deedee live in Newport Beach and run a winery in Napa Valley producing cabernets as Sodaro Estate Winery.

It’s one area where Sodaro said he enjoys taking more of a backseat role.

“I don’t do the farming or make the wine, which is in the hands of people who know what they are doing,” he said. “But I do have two important jobs which includes paying the bills and tasting.”

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