More big changes have happened and are happening a couple of blocks away from Beach Street. At the corner where Riverside Drive, 2nd Street, and Liebrandt Street all meet, a very large new hotel is nearing completion after many years of a big empty lot, followed by four-plus years (and counting) of construction. The photo above-right shows the excavation that began in 2017.
This site used to be multiple small lots, each with its small building. Now the lots have all been combined to make room for what will probably be the largest hotel site in the Beach Hill area - rivalled perhaps by the La Bahia. In autumn of 2021, exterior construction is nearing completion, as shown at left. For reference, the same turquoise-painted wall-end seen in the 2017 photo is visible at far right. I have no idea what architectural style those red domes are meant to invoke - Moorish maybe?
Or could it be that several of the MAH red balls rained down from above, embedding themselves in the roofs? We may never know.
Moving now all the way to the other (west) end of 2nd Street, another big hotel is also nearing completion. Its scale seems modest only in comparison to the Riverside Avenue. This large hotel replaces another slightly-less large hotel called the Lanai Lodge - shown at left-above. Its loss will cause no sorrow in the architectural world, and I hope they don't keep that name.
Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.
