Inside The Baby Grand, Coronado's First New Design Hotel in 20 Years

Lucía Torres · 2026-08-07

Coronado Island hasn't had a new independent design hotel in over two decades. That dry spell finally ended in May with the opening of The Baby Grand, a $17 million, 31-room project that's already turning heads on Orange Avenue. Located directly across from the iconic Hotel Del Coronado, this new arrival occupies the former La Avenida Inn building and brings a completely fresh energy to the island. The masterminds behind this venture are San Diego hospitality group CH Projects—the team known for The Lafayette Hotel & Club and a portfolio of more than two dozen bars and restaurants across the county, including Morning Glory and Born & Raised. For the design, they reunited with Brooklyn-based Post Company, the studio that previously collaborated with them on Lafayette. ### A Hotel That Feels Discovered, Not Checked Into "We wanted The Baby Grand to feel less like a hotel you check into and more like something you stumble upon, like you discovered it halfway reclaimed by time and decided to stay," said CH Projects Founder Arsalun Tafazoli. "It's our attempt to create a social, slightly surreal gathering place on Coronado where history isn't polished over, but left visible and alive, and where people can move through spaces that unfold slowly, connect, and make their own version of the story." That philosophy shapes every corner of the property. The entry sequence alone is a masterclass in controlled chaos. What was once a 6,000-square-foot asphalt parking lot is now a dense, overgrown landscape with mature plantings, gas-lit torches, statuary half-swallowed by greenery, and a two-story waterfall. The trick? It's all engineered to look like nobody built it at all. ### The Landscape: Manufactured Wilderness Done Right Here's the thing about manufactured wilderness—it usually announces itself through symmetry or overly clean sightlines. The Baby Grand avoids that trap entirely. The planting and hardscape are staged with enough asymmetry and layering that your eye can't immediately locate the design intent, which is exactly the point. Guests move through a central oasis and encounter the property's pieces as they go: - A private lagoon perfect for quiet moments - An outdoor bar that invites lingering - Night Hawk, a Greek open-fire restaurant "The design is theatrical, but never overly choreographed—there's a sense that it's still unfolding and evolving," said Leigh Salem, Partner at Post Company. ### Night Hawk: Dining as Expedition Night Hawk pushes the expedition-camp idea into its dining architecture. Trellised planting and tented structures overhead nod to Coronado's early beach-culture tent cities, while sculpted rock formations and running water blur the line between built environment and landscape. It feels less like a restaurant and more like a discovery. Inside, the former check-in area has been reworked as a literal threshold between the property's two registers—outdoor discovery and interior excess. Vintage tapestries referencing Pompeian wall paintings run the perimeter, framed in custom trim beneath a fabric ceiling that lifts toward a central chandelier. A high-gloss custom check-in desk anchors the room and doubles as a backbar, shifting from coffee service to cocktails over the course of a day. It's a small but telling move: the room isn't zoned by function so much as by time. Scattered statues and artifacts complete the "fragments left behind" theme—and one conceals the entrance to Fallen Empire, a reservation-only oyster and champagne bar tucked behind the lobby. It's the kind of hidden gem that rewards curiosity. ### Guest Rooms Designed to Be Remembered The guest rooms take a familiar exterior-corridor hotel layout and layer it with enough material density that the plan disappears. Schumacher wallpaper in tropical scenes wraps the walls under a wood ceiling lacquered in a high-gloss "dead salmon" finish—a color choice specific and slightly perverse enough to read as intentional eccentricity rather than a default mood board. Oxblood trim and parquet flooring set a warm, saturated base, while a custom iridescent clamshell bed becomes the room's central sculptural object. The supporting cast—mirrored surfaces, vintage lighting, and layered textures—rounds out a space that feels collected over time rather than designed in a single sitting. Every room tells a slightly different story, which is exactly what you want from a hotel that positions itself as a discovery. For professionals in the hospitality space, The Baby Grand is worth watching. It's proof that thoughtful design, a clear point of view, and a willingness to embrace imperfection can create something genuinely memorable—even on an island known for its landmarks.