Fisherman's Wharf is gaining a new boutique hotel managed by the Kimpton group, in one half of what was formerly a Holiday Inn at 495 Beach Street.

It seems that plans may be temporarily scaled back from what was previously reported in January 2020. At the time, we learned that Westbrook Partners had purchased the entire multi-building Holiday Inn complex and converted half of it into the 248-room Hotel Caza, which is managed by Highgate and faces Jones Street. The triangular property bound by Columbus, Jones, and Beach Streets meanwhile is becoming The Alton, which opens May 14 with 248 newly renovated rooms, managed by Kimpton and owned by Walnut Creek-based DiNapoli Capital Partners, as the SF Business Times reports.

Plans may be on hold to expand the property to 516 rooms by building on what's now a surface parking lot, though the Planning Department had recommended this project for approval, pre-pandemic.

The Alton was designed by Kara Mann and Arcsine Architects with a "retro attitude," as the Business Times notes. And it's expected to include a new modern Filipino restaurant from chef Francis Ang (Dirty Habit, Pinoy Heritage) called Abacá, perhaps later this year (opening date TBA).

Rooms are reportedly going for $300 per night in June, though it seems far from guaranteed that San Francisco will have a busy tourism season this summer.

Along with news of The Alton's opening, Kimpton confirmed that it no longer is managing the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in Union Square. That hotel changed owners last month, and is reportedly now owned by Northview Hotel Group of Connecticut.

The Sir Francis Drake, which dates back to 1928, is currently closed, and the hotel's website simply says "The landmark will return soon."