Article in Napa Valley Register by Jennifer Huffman, Published July 8, 2025

SHUTTERED SINCE 2014 EARTHQUAKE, HISTORIC NAPA POST OFFICE MAY SEE $250 MIILION REBIRTH

More than a decade after the South Napa earthquake shuttered the historic Franklin Station post office, a long-running plan to redevelop the downtown Napa building into a hotel has gained new steam.

The developer Jim Keller has filed revised plans with the city of Napa for an updated version of the Franklin Station Hotel Project, located at 1351 Second St. The project would reactivate the 1933 Art Deco structure, which was damaged by the quake that rocked Napa on Aug. 24, 2014.

An artist's rendering of new plans for the Franklin Station Hotel Project, located at 1351 Second St. in Napa. The project includes two buildings. 

Originally approved in 2019, the project now includes the hotel proposal for the Franklin Station Post Office building as well as a 40-unit residential condominium development and retail space. A parking structure the city approved six years ago is no longer part of the plan. In total, the complex is estimated to cost $250 million, according to Keller.

In Keller's new application, the project will feature an “upper upscale” hotel with around 120 units, with potential amenities such as a rooftop café and bar, rooftop pool, restaurant, event and meeting spaces, a lobby, lounge, spa and fitness center, and a basement “speakeasy.” Room sizes would range from 410 to 1,390 square feet. The hotel structure would be five stories and about 60 feet tall, although other structures on the rooftop – which would be set back from the street – would raise the total height to some 75 feet. 

Residential units would include two-bedroom units ranging from 1,700 to 1,850 square feet, along with three-bedroom units covering 2,090 to 2,900 square feet.

Those dwellings are likely to be “branded-residential” units, the application states, which would be designed, marketed and managed in partnership with the hotel operator. Owners of the units would have access to hotel amenities and may elect to include their units in the hotel’s reservation system for overnight accommodations. 

An overhead perspective for a map of the Franklin Station Hotel Project, on Second Street in downtown Napa.

In Napa County, Four Seasons Resorts in Calistoga and Auberge Stanly Ranch offer both luxury accommodations along with branded private residences. No potential operator was identified in the Napa city application, however. 

According to the filing, most of the project’s proposed residential units will be located in a new building on the parking lot across the street.  

The new structure would include six stories, including a rooftop penthouse.

The ground floor is to contain parking, retail and areas for residential uses, and the upper floors would house the residential units.

The project’s dwellings will incorporate three existing residential condominium units on the second floor of the Young Building. Those units will be accessed through a shared corridor on the second floor of the proposed new residential structure.

The developer Jim Keller seeks to redevelop the earthquake-damaged Franklin Station post office on Napa's Second Street into a hotel.

The design of the hotel has been a key element of the project from its beginning. It centers on the historic Franklin Station building façade and carries through to all areas of the larger property, including the new residential structure, the application states.

Existing Franklin Station features such as the mailboxes and safes will be “respectfully and creatively repurposed to remind guests and locals of the history and authenticity of the place,” according to the filing.

“The project has been thoughtfully designed to feel like a boutique hotel while offering amenities typically provided by full-service lodging establishments,” it reads.

The existing Art Deco façade “will verify the Franklin Station’s history and authenticity, as being a defining Napa landmark. That character shall carry through to the interior public spaces as appropriate, while also infusing more contemporary elements which relate, yet feel lighter and more fun.”

A ground-level artist's rendering of the proposed Franklin Station Hotel Project, which would reactivate downtown Napa's former post office building.

Keller said he has wanted to resurrect the project for some time.

“The first version, which was carried out by a previous development partner, wasn’t financially viable given the massive cost of P.O. building restoration and cost to build a private parking structure,” he wrote in an email.

“It has taken a few years assembling a new team, working with the city to get buy-in to the modifications, and getting (Napa County) Landmarks on board with the updated restoration details.”

Keller said he’s brought in a new development team led by industry veteran David Oliver, who he said led the development of the Four Seasons hotels in Calistoga and Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as Pebble Beach Resorts.

“We have redesigned the hotel and added a new residential component which is a key to make the investment work,” he said. 

This final stage of city approvals is a key step to secure funding, sign an operator and move to building permits and construction, according to Keller.

“We are currently involved in very active and promising conversations and expect these relationships to formalize as we get the required approvals,” he said.

The application noted that Keller plans to submit proposed amendments to the development agreement to the city’s planning department by the end of July.