A slow period for new hotel development in Orange County, particularly along the coast, looks set to end this summer, with work starting for a pair of high-profile projects at the revitalized Dana Point Harbor.
Groundbreaking is expected this August for an upscale, 130-room hotel, as well as a more affordable, 169-room hotel at the harbor, said Bob Olson, chief executive of Newport Beach-based R.D. Olson Development.
The two properties will be the first new ground-up hotels along OC’s coast since 2018.
The higher-end property, which will fall under the Marriott Autograph collection of independent hotels, was previously expected to be called Dana House, but recently got renamed. It’s now known as The Doheny (see page 3 for more).
It will count similarities to Olson’s Lido House hotel in Newport Beach, which has 130 rooms and is also part of the Marriott Autograph collection.
The other Dana Point hotel, which is being geared for younger travelers seeking a more relaxed environment and affordability, is called The Salt Haus. It will be part of Marriott’s Moxy line of hotels, and will be the first Moxy-branded property in OC.
$300M Loan
R.D. Olson is one of three Newport Beach-based developers operating as Dana Point Harbor Partners LLC, which is the group heading the revitalization of the county-owned harbor, which runs 239 acres.
The other two developers are Bellwether Financial Group, whose specialty is marina work, and Burnham-Ward Properties, one of the area’s most prolific developers of upscale retail properties.
The total cost for the harbor revitalization, which began work in 2022, is expected to top $600 million.
The partnership finalized a month ago a nearly $300 million loan with Pacific Life, with much of the funds earmarked for the commercial core of the project, which includes over 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, as well as a new parking structure.
The combined cost of the forthcoming two hotels is expected to run about $160 million.
2028 Opening
The goal is to have both Dana Point hotels open in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics, Olson told the Business Journal. San Clemente, located a few miles south of Dana Point, will be hosting surfing competitions during LA28.
“They’ve been a long-time coming,” said Olson, whose firm has been among the state’s most active hotel developers for close to a decade. His firm received entitlements for the two hotels last year.
The past year has seen a minimal amount of new hotel development in the area, amid economic uncertainties, high interest rates, and, for coastal properties in particular, entitlement challenges.
The last hotel to open in OC was the 91-room La Quinta Inn & Suites La Habra, which opened in the first half of 2025, according to data from Irvine’s Atlas Hospitality.
At the start of 2026, only a handful of ground-up hospitality projects in OC were underway, led by the 172-room Home2 Suites Irvine, near the intersection of Main Street and Von Karman Avenue in the airport area.
One notable expansion project nearing completion is at Olson’s Lido House; five new cottages are nearing completion on a site that’s adjacent to the hotel that previously held a fire house on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. A new sushi-focused restaurant, Kaiya, is also set to open at the property in about a month.
“There’s not a lot of hotels going up,” Olson said. “But it’s been a good time for us.”
The recent financial performance of Lido House, which opened in 2018, is at its highest-ever levels, he said.
Sedona Fundraising
Outside OC, R.D. Olson remains focused on bringing the first five-star resort to the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, which is one of the better-known outdoor and wellness destinations in the Western U.S.
After nearly six years of working to gain entitlements, the developer is now nearing the final stages of fundraising for the 70-room resort, to be called Senoa Resort & Spa. It’ll be part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection; others in the collection include the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Olson has adopted a new approach to funding the Sedona project, over the past two months marketing the property to new investors.
“It’s our biggest fund raise so far,” Olson said of the project, which is expected to cost about $116 million to develop.
The developer’s projections are for the project to have an appraised value of $143.4 million at completion, and a stabilized value of $162.5 million.
Olson said the funds are close to being done, after which plans for ground-breaking will move ahead.
