Booming Napa a blueprint for tourism development in Lodi

Tourists ask questions at the Napa Visitors Bureau on Thursday. Tourism in downtown Napa has increased steadily in the last 10 years. (Matt Brown/News-Sentinel)

Booming Napa a blueprint for tourism development in Lodi

By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, September 8, 2007 7:17 AM PDT

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The visitors bureau here was packed Thursday with more than 25 tourists poring over maps and browsing through Napa-emblazoned Polo shirts, wine glasses and bottle openers.

Visitors from all over the country and beyond lined up to ask questions of helpful volunteers such as Renee Morley.

"We've had a tremendous amount of tourists," said Morley, who has helped Napa visitors find their way for 10 years. "It was a zoo on Labor Day weekend. We had over 1,000 people."

Shirley and Ray Clancy from Portland, Ore., set out on foot to explore the streets of downtown Napa clutching a tourist map highlighting some of the city's two dozen fine dining restaurants and 14 wine tasting rooms.

"It's fun to walk through town," Shirley Clancy said. "There is so much to do within walking distance."

This was hardly the case 10 years ago. Before 1998, Napa was the flood-prone, gritty industrial foot of a world renown wine region. Visitors used to stop in the city long enough to get directions to the chic resorts and wineries farther up the Napa Valley in St. Helena and Yountville.

A major public improvement project beginning in 1998 led to an aggressive push by city officials to attract businesses to downtown. Ten years later, Napa is a booming tourist destination with plans for world class hotels, and the city is reaping the rewards of new sales tax dollars.

Lodi officials have noted the achievements Napa has made and hope that the city of 73,000 just north of the San Francisco Bay can serve as a road map to developing their city's tourist sector. Recent developments in Downtown including plans for a new hotel suggest that Lodi is trying to capitalize on the surrounding area's wine image the same way Napa did 10 years ago.

Flood control leads to tourism

The Napa River provides a scenic backdrop to the city's downtown. But during heavy rains, it becomes a flood hazard. Every winter, downtown business owners would break out the sand bags and brooms in hopes their shops didn't bear the brunt when the river inevitably overflowed its banks.

A construction crew works on a flood protection wall as part of a $300 million flood control project in downtown Napa. The project has encouraged investment in Napa and caused a boom in the tourist sector. (Matt Brown/News-Sentinel)

In 1997, the city passed a half-cent sales tax measure that raised millions of dollars and leveraged millions more in federal money for a massive $300 million flood protection project. Buildings were moved back from the river, the banks were terraced and flood walls were built. City officials say this project was a boon for attracting businesses because investors could open new establishments confident that they wouldn't be inundated.

"That was clearly the project that got things moving," said Craig Smith, head of the Napa Downtown Association. "There wasn't a building in town that didn't triple in value."

As property values soared, Napa was again flooded — this time with investment money. Leading the way was innovative chef Greg Cole, who opened two restaurants in downtown, Celadon and Cole's Chop House, which are highly rated by the international restaurant guide Zagat. At the same time, Copia, a wine, food and art center, opened attracting a host of upscale boutiques, tasting rooms and fine dining restaurants.

Locals have seen the results.

Tourists strolled the red brick-lined streets of downtown Napa on Thursday, popping in and out of pricey shoe stores and jewelry boutiques. At Barbara Rhoda's Napa Valley Traditions gift shop, business is booming.

"In the last 10 years, I have seen more people stopping in Napa," Rhoda said. "They used to just drive up the valley to go to the wineries."

The next phase of downtown Napa's revitalization is hotel construction, said Micah Hinkle, a project coordinator in the Napa Economic Development Department.

Jennifer La Liberte, Napa senior project coordinator, talks about economic development in downtown Napa on Thursday. (Matt Brown/News-Sentinel)

"We've attracted the tourists to town, now we want them to stay here," he said. "There are some big name hotels coming into town."

Besides a 142-room boutique hotel that will open in downtown next year, Napa is gearing up for a 160-room Westin condominium hotel and a Ritz-Carlton resort along the river.

A blueprint for Lodi

A Downtown hotel is exactly what Lodi business and tourism officials have been screaming for since 1998. That year, a city consultant recommended enhancing Downtown with "wine-related outlets, restaurants and a Downtown hotel." Like Napa, Lodi has started to attract fine dining restaurants and wine tasting rooms into the city's core. Now Lodi appears poised for the next phase.

In July, the city partnered with Wine and Roses developer Russ Munson to explore building a Downtown hotel. Munson paid the city $5,000 for first dibs on developing a hotel, most likely on a city-owned parking lot on Church Street.

City officials estimate a new hotel could generate $200,000 annually in transient occupancy tax, which would increase the city's hotel tax revenue by 50 percent. In addition, a hotel would increase property and sales tax and serve as a Downtown anchor, city officials say.

Napa hotel projects

Inn at Town Center

144-suite boutique hotel
2,000 square feet of meeting space
12,000 square feet of retail space
Opening spring 2008

The Westin Verasa Napa Residences

160 rooms
3,700 square feet of restaurant/lounge
17,000 square feet of meeting space
Opening fall 2008

Ritz-Carlton

126 condo units
200 hotel rooms
River access
Construction schedule undetermined

Source: City of Napa

A Downtown hotel would help bolster all businesses in the city, Lodi Chamber of Commerce President Pat Patrick said.

"The wine industry is the magnet that pulls tourists into town," Patrick said. "We have to capture them and have them stay here so they aren't just day trippers. We do need more hotel space and we'd love to have it Downtown."

As Lodi's wine-tourism industry grows, the city is already attracting visitors who would normally head to Napa, according to Lodi Conference and Visitor's Bureau Executive Director Nancy Beckman. The draw in Lodi is a more intimate wine tasting experience for a better value, Beckman said.

Lodi does not have the crowds and congestion like Napa, and Lodi visitors can still taste wine poured by the actual winemaker, Beckman said. You won't get that personal touch in Napa.

However, the restaurant-to-tasting room-to-hotel blueprint laid out by Napa is worth following in Lodi, Beckman said.

"The Napa model is a great model for Lodi," she said. "Everyone wants Downtown to be healthy and vibrant. Tourism can do that."

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

WY wrote on Sep 17, 2007 2:24 PM:

" We have better fruit than Germans too. I bought a mellon and it was yucky. I'm tell'n ya, we got it grow'n on in this valley. :) "

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