SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - The developer behind the Westin Sacramento has plans for another waterfront hotel, this time in the quaint Delta town of Hood. 

The approximately $30 million project, which is being proposed by West River Hotels, LLC, will bring a 60-room boutique hotel and marina to the town of approximately 250 people, just a few miles west of Elk Grove. 

It would be West River Hotel President Robert Leach’s third hotel in the region. He also constructed Westin Hotel, where Scott’s Seafood on the river is located, as well as Lake Natoma Inn in Folsom. 

“I try to build a better hotel every time I build a hotel,” Leach said. “So, the little hotel in Hood is going to be as good, or even better than the Westin hotel on the river. We are not building the Dewdrop Inn; we are building a first-class, four-star hotel for the people.”

Leach said the hotel is intended to capitalize on the aesthetic of being along the Sacramento River and “provide a venue where people can come and appreciate this small town.” 

He added it gives the community a chance to have access “to their own river spot.”

“Very few properties in the township of Hood front the river or have any public access to the river,” Leach said. 

Leach’s idea is to demolish a vacant 80-year-old warehouse on a nearly 4-acre site that was once used to pack and ship produce to build the new hotel on the levee. Each suite would then face the river. 

Plans also include a lobby bistro, lounge, outdoor pool, conference rooms, a day spa bar and a marina for about 20 boats. 

The warehouse property is owned by Dan and Donis Whaley, who also operate the nearby Willow Ballroom & Events Center, which hosts 40 to 50 weddings a year, according to Leach. 

Leach said he intends to provide lodging for wedding guests on the weekend, as well as guests of the wineries in the nearby area. 

In addition to weddings, Leach said the plan is to court business and health retreats to help supplement the hotel during the weekdays. 

“I’m not trying to urbanize the little town of Hood; really, it’s the opposite,” Leach said. “We want to provide a venue where people come and appreciate the ‘small townness of Hood.’ It’s not going to be an urban sprawl kind of thing.” 

Leach said the response has been positive from community members. 

Aaron Pruitt, owner of Hello Antiques in Hood, said he would be “ecstatic, if the hotel happens.” 

“We have been waiting on a lot of things to go into that building and nothing has really materialized,” Pruitt said. “If it happens, I’m going to be very excited, and I am looking forward to it.” 

The project is in the early stages, but its formal application has been accepted by Sacramento County’s Planning and Environmental Review Department. The plan, Leach said, is to open the hotel by 2027. 

“I don’t build a lot of hotels. I’ve only done like four or five from the ground up sort of the thing, but the main thing is that I have never not finished a project that I have started,” Leach said. “You are going to see that little hotel out there, come hell or high water. Hopefully, not the high water.”