Order of Eastern Star conversion to Hyatt House nearly complete in Midtown

Built in 1928, the former Order of the Eastern Star building is now nearly through a conversion into a Hyatt House hotel. HRGA

From K Street, the building in Midtown Sacramento known as the Order of the Eastern Star looks much as it has for its 94-year history, facing Sutter's Fort. But a new flag hanging from the front with the name "Hyatt House" on it signals something very different is weeks away from giving the building a new identity.

"It seems like a lot, but we're really, really close to complete," said Rocky Roquet, who'll be general manager for the new Hyatt House at 2719 K St, as he led a tour this month past lots of sawdust, workers in safety vests and boxed fixtures and furniture.

By the end of October, the 128-room hotel should be open, with an emphasis on extended-stay guests and acknowledging the building's history, Roquet said. But apart from the front and side walls and some interior features, little of the building's past remains. The adaptive reuse project by Hume Development Inc. largely demolished and removed the building's interior, and replaced it with not only three floors of hotel within the original walls, but a new eight-story addition of hotel rooms directly to the north.

A new patio on K Street leads into a lobby where there will be check-in desks on either side of the front door. Facing the front door, empty fixtures will eventually have 27 sconces flanked by staircases that'll take both guests and visitors to a third-floor bar/restaurant called the Star Lounge.

On either side of the lobby, fireplaces from the original building remain in what will be on the west side a library and business center, and on the east side a lounge/waiting area. From there, new construction extends toward the north, with features such as hotel offices, meeting space and a fitness center in a new basement, and mostly floors of rooms above.

All but 41 rooms also come with kitchens, and those with kitchens feel almost like apartments rather than hotel rooms. Roquet said a handful of rooms have separate bedrooms from the kitchen and living area, and couches in many rooms fold out into beds as well. "There's no extended stay like this down here," he said, with visiting doctors or traveling nurses from the nearby Sutter Medical Center one likely source of such guests.

A handful of rooms have some distinct features, like two "owner suites" near the lobby with higher ceilings and RH (Restoration Hardware) fixtures. On the sixth floor, two rooms at the front of the building have access to a balcony overlooking Sutter's Fort; it's possible the hotel will rent those rooms together for a private event on the balcony, Roquet said. Above the lobby on the third floor, the Star Lounge will have seating for 62 and provide guests with a place to get a drink and a small plate in meeting with a friend or before heading out. The Servery, where guests will load up on complimentary breakfasts, is connected to the Star Lounge.

Ben van der Meer

September 16, 2022