One Asset, Three Owners, One Restoration
The Huntington Hotel reopened at 1075 California Street on 1 March 2026 with 143 keys, after a closure that began in 2020. Three ownership positions and one restoration sit inside that outcome, so the delivery read runs through the ownership change, the work and the reopening.
The building opened in 1922 as the Huntington Apartments, twelve storeys of Georgian brick designed by Weeks and Day. Eugene Fritz converted it into a hotel in 1924, the year the record dates the hotel from.
The Scope, From the Guest Rooms to the Third Spa Level
The restored inventory is 71 guest rooms and 72 suites, averaging about 581 square feet. Interiors came from San Francisco designer Ken Fulk. The operator's press page carries his credit through Vogue, Town & Country and Architectural Digest.
The programme ran below the rooms into the wellness floor. Nob Hill Spa spans three levels. The operator publishes nearly 9,000 square feet, and the GoodLifeReport feature describes an 11,000-square-foot three-storey space with an indoor pool. SF YIMBY's report of 11 December 2025 carries 12 treatment rooms, saunas and steam rooms, and the operator's own spa page places saunas and steam rooms in each locker room. The operator heats the soaking pool to 94 degrees Fahrenheit and reserves it for guests who book a treatment. The Big Four returned in its 50th year, and Arabella's, a 25-seat cocktail salon, now receives guests a few steps above the lobby.
What the Builder and the Architect Inherited
Singular Builders and BAR Architects & Interiors led the restoration, and the work began in earnest in 2024. GoodLifeReport records that the team preserved the original Georgian details across stately plasterwork ceilings, boiserie panels and expansive light-filled windows, and modernised the rest. The building stood as the tallest brick-and-steel high-rise west of the Mississippi when it opened.
The Designation That Landed Mid-Restoration
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2025, while the work was running. GoodLifeReport records that ELLE Decor and Vogue each named the reopening among 2026's most anticipated openings, and the operator's press page carries both entries. A designation arriving mid-build constrains what a contractor may change.
Where the Schedule Shows Its Own Record
The dates read in sequence. The hotel closed in 2020. Flynn Properties and Highgate Hotels bought it at auction in March 2023. Work started in 2024. The reopening came on 1 March 2026.
SFist records the 2023 auction: a nominal reserve bid of $29 million and no other bidders, after the previous owner defaulted on a $56.2 million Deutsche Bank loan and owed $61.1 million including fees and penalties, on documents filed 16 August 2022 at the San Francisco County Recorder.
SFist also carries the buyers' stated target of a 2025 reopening. The hotel opened about a year later. Delivery ran past the opening date as well: SFist recorded The Big Four reopening on 17 March 2026, sixteen days after the hotel.
Reading the Investment Off the Entry Basis
No restoration cost is published by the sources reviewed. The entry basis is published, and Greg Flynn told SFist that the buyers had bought at a basis that allowed the significant investment needed to bring the hotel back. The 2018 purchase price is carried two ways: the GoodLifeReport feature records $87 million, and SFist, citing Bay Area News Group, records a reported $51.9 million.
The Penthouse That Resolved Smaller Than Announced
SF YIMBY recorded the penthouse at nearly 1,500 square feet in December 2025. The operator's current figure is 1,306 square feet on the twelfth floor. The room count moved the same way: 136 rooms in a September 2022 account, 135 rooms in a March 2023 account, 143 keys on delivery.
What a Market Can Read From the File
A distressed entry basis funded a long restoration on a protected historic building at 1075 California Street. That reading is supported. The cost is not. The record carries no construction contract value, no restoration budget and no per-key figure, and the sources reviewed publish no return for the owners.