palm desert

Palm Desert

Focuses on future growth with an updated General Plan that paves the way for active development.

David Hermann Vision

palm desert
Opening in late 2017, Hotel Paseo includes meeting space, a spa and an upscale restaurant.
PHOTOS BY CHRIS MILLER/IMAGINE IMAGERY

Palm Desert is entering a new era of growth guided by new strategic and general plans that enhance the city’s walkability with new hotels, restaurants and housing, while preserving the uniquely wonderful quality of life enjoyed by residents and visitors.

Already renowned as the “Rodeo Drive of the Desert,” Palm Desert’s El Paseo is poised for historic change this year as developers work to complete Hotel Paseo, a new 150-room boutique hotel that will be the first of its kind in the city.

Part of Marriott’s prestigious Autograph Collection, the four-star property will feature a pool, spa, valet parking, an underground parking garage, conference and banquet facilities, and 24-hour room service from its new dining destination — AC3, a partnership between chefs Andrew and Juliana Copley of Copley’s restaurant in Palm Springs and TRIO restaurateur Tony Marchese.

MAYOR:
Jan Harnik

MAYOR Pro Tem:
Sabby Jonathan

COUNCIL MEMBERS:

Kathleen Kelly
Gina Nestande
Susan Marie Weber

YEAR INCORPORATED:

1973

WEBSITE:
cityofpalmdesert.org

The luxurious nature of Hotel Paseo’s accommodations is playfully illustrated in Room 150, a fully restored and air-conditioned 1950s-era Airstream trailer permanently parked in its own private poolside space.

Located on just over two acres next to The Gardens on El Paseo and stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Bahama, and Louis Vuitton, Hotel Paseo is on schedule to open in late 2017 bringing more visitors, energy, and activity to the Coachella Valley’s most celebrated shopping destination.

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Escape to pure luxury at Hotel Paseo’s Room 150, a fully restored Airstream trailer with its own private poolside space.

Other exciting additions to the street include the proposed development of El Paseo’s first retail and residential mixed-use project. The three-story building, featuring first floor retail space combined with second and third floor apartments, is expected to break ground in early 2018 and help realize the new General Plan’s vision that utilizes a reimagined San Pablo Avenue, and a revitalized Highway 111/El Paseo corridor to create a dynamic, pedestrian-friendly City Center.

Fashion Week El Paseo celebrated its 12th year in 2017 at its new home next to Saks Fifth Avenue atop the parking structure at The Gardens on El Paseo. Attendance topped 12,400 at the eight-day event, which raised more than $115,000 for 25 charities and is estimated to have had a nearly $3 million impact on the local economy.

Fashion Week was followed once again by Palm Desert Food & Wine, also at The Gardens. The three-day celebration of all things delectable and quaffable included 23 celebrity chefs, 48 restaurants and food vendors, 91 wineries, vintners, and distillers, 13 craft breweries, and much more. More than 4,500 attendees raised more than $17,500 for The Friends of the James Beard Foundation and FIND Food Bank.

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The transformation of San Pablo Avenue to encourage business development.

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Projects underway in Palm Desert include the City’s first retail and residential mixed-use project.

The flurry of activity in Palm Desert extends throughout the city, including San Pablo Avenue, where the city is moving forward with plans to transform the centrally located thoroughfare into a revitalized connection between El Paseo/Highway 111 and the Palm Desert Civic Center and College of the Desert. The plan calls for narrowing the street to one lane in each direction and installing roundabouts, enhanced sidewalks, and buffered bike lanes, thus creating expanded outdoor areas for businesses to encourage streetside dining.

In the city’s north sphere, Millennium is a multi-phase, mixed-use project adjacent to Interstate 10. Encompassing 152 acres, the development includes a new city park, 166 single family homes, 550 apartments across several multifamily complexes, and more than 550,000 square feet of retail including two hotels. Homes are already being sold in the development, which is scheduled to build out over the next two years.

To the west, Monterey Crossing is a new mixed-use development on 17 acres at the northeast corner of Monterey Avenue and Dinah Shore Drive. Scheduled to break ground in summer 2018, the project will include a hotel, multiple fast casual dining options, and retail.

Nearby, at Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus, the college’s inaugural freshman class recently graduated, further establishing the school’s status as the Coachella Valley’s first and only public four-year university.
The city has underscored its commitment to the expansion of Cal State’s presence in Palm Desert with a 113-acre gift of land that will allow the Palm Desert Campus to more than triple in size. A larger campus will bring greater access to higher education for Coachella Valley residents and spur regional economic growth.

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A 152-acre mixed-use development near Interstate 10.

To learn more about business opportunities in Palm Desert, contact the City’s Economic Development Division at 760-346-0611 or visit cityofpalmdesert.org.

CITY STATS

Population
Total Population:
52,429

Annual Growth
Rate:
1.19%

Median Age:
57.1

Income
Median
Household:
$58,055

Average
Household:
$95,070

Top Employment Sectors
Accommodation
and Food Services:
13.83%

Healthcare, Social Assistance:
13.16%

Retail:
11.54%

Services (excluding Public Administration):
8.99%

Educational Services:
6.59%

Arts, Entertainment, Recreation:
7.17%

Professional, Scientific, Tech Services:
6.73%

SOURCE: Esri Business Analyst 2017/Coachella Valley Economic Partnership and City of Palm Desert Finance Dept.