Bob Olson is no stranger to ceremonial groundbreaking shovels and hard hats these days.
The founder and chief executive of Irvine-based R.D. Olson Development has been California’s most active hotel developer for several years running.
The privately held company, founded in 1998, has started construction on seven hotel projects over the past two years alone, including locations in Tustin, San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside and Santa Barbara.
The projects combine for about 1,000 rooms and more than $200 million in construction costs.
“They are the most active developer in California right now, and quite possibly in the country,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based consultancy Atlas Hospitality Group.
The newest project, a 210-room Courtyard by Marriott, broke ground last week in the Irvine Spectrum. The eight-story hotel is going up on a 4.5-acre site—currently an unused parking lot—near the intersection of Alton Parkway and Irvine Center Drive.
The 131,667-square-foot project, which is across the street from the headquarters of Taco Bell Corp., is expected to cost about $50 million to build and should open in July 2014.
“We’ve stayed busy—we’ve been lucky,” Olson said.
Funding hasn’t been a problem for the company.
R.D. Olson has raised more than $100 million from banks for new hotel construction in the past two years. It’s gotten another $50 million or so from wealthy investors, primarily former and current athletes.
The company’s pipeline could become a lot busier. It’s eyeing several other area sites for hotel development, including an adjacent site in the Spectrum, a project in Maui—that would be its second on the Hawaii island—and projects in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.
R.D. Olson is one of three developers, along with L.A.-based Sonnenblick Development LLC and The Shopoff Group in Irvine, in the running to redevelop Newport Beach’s old City Hall site.
The company also has proposed a 130-room boutique hotel for the 4.3-acre site. Its plans call for a “Newport Nautical” theme at the hotel, which the company would call the Lido House.
The design is expected to make the property feel like “it could have been built 100 years ago, but it will still be relevant 100 years from now,” said Olson, a longtime resident of Newport Beach.
The company also is nearing a deal with San Jose-based DJM Capital Partners Inc. to take over the hotel development portion of that city’s long-awaited Pacific City project in Huntington Beach, according to Olson.
He said he’s been able keep an active development pipeline in the choppy economy by emphasizing efficiency in the construction process and competitive pricing through every phase of development.
His R.D. Olson Construction business unit, which has worked on some $2 billion in hospitality construction since its inception in 1979, handles work for the developer.
Also working in the company’s factor: picking strong locations for hotels.
The company’s Tustin Pacific Center, a two-hotel, $60 million project going up along the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, is the first new hotel development in Tustin in more than 15 years.
Construction for the project is moving ahead of schedule and should open by July, according to the company.
The Tustin Pacific Center will include a Fairfield Inn & Suites with 145 rooms, as well as a 149-room Residence Inn, both by Marriott.
The Courtyard by Marriott that is now moving along at the Spectrum checks off a box for the Bethesda, Md.-based hotel chain operator.
“I personally worked in the Spectrum for years and have always wanted to see one of our hotels in the Spectrum,” said Eric Jacobs, chief development officer of Marriott’s Select Service and Extended Stay division.
R.D. Olson Development said it will retain ownership of the Irvine hotel upon its completion, with Marriott International Inc. providing management services.
The hotel is expected to attract visitors drawn to the Irvine Spectrum shopping center, which is a few blocks away from the development, as well as business travelers, according to Olson.
In addition to Taco Bell, companies with prominent area operations within walking distance to the project include Yard House Restaurants Inc., Nissan, and architecture firm WATG, which designed the new Courtyard by Marriott.
