Pheonix area-based boutique hotel Hermosa Inn recently completed the second phase of a US$5.5 million dollar renovation and expansion.
Located on six acres in the Sonoran Desert in Paradise Valley, the hotel was originally built in 1936 by cowboy artist Lon Megargee as a guest ranch for his friends and colleagues. The first part of this current expansion process began in 2015, shortly after the property was purchased by Allred Capital, in a partnership led by Colorado-based father and son developers Ron and Mike Allred.
The renovation has included the addition of 10 hideaway casitas, the complete overhaul of 12 historic ranchocasitas and an expansion of Lon’s Last Drop bar and patio, increasing the hotel’s number of hacienda-style accommodations and casitas to 43.
A fountain now anchors the hotel’s entryway, leading directly into the newly-built lobby with beamed ceilings and a large fireplace. The hotel’s new 700-square-foot casitas now have European white oak floors, vaulted ceilings with a skylight, a beehive fireplace, an expansive patio, and bathrooms with both clawfoot tubs and glass enclosed showers.
The hotel is furnished with wood and wrought iron canopy king beds, locally made mesquite tables and dressers, and oversized wingback leather chairs. Southwestern patterns grace the upholstered benches, pillows and rugs and Lon Megargee prints hang from guestroom walls.
The hotel’s bar, Lon’s Last Drop, named after Megargee’s most famous painting, “Last Drop From His Stetson,” has also expanded. The bar doubled its interior seating capacity via the addition of low-slung leather seating groupings while the outside patio, which also doubled in capacity, added couches and five additional fireplaces.
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