"There needs to be power in order to deliver." Tanner Erickson, president of Gather Capital, said that to the La Quinta City Council in August, according to GPS Business Insider. He was talking about the electrical service a full-service hotel would need on three city-owned parcels across from Old Town La Quinta.
Anyone who has driven to the Sunday farmers market or a Civic Center festival probably knows those parcels as gravel. They sit between Calle Tampico and Avenida La Fonda, east of Desert Club Drive, and the city uses them for overflow parking during its biggest Village events. The hotel deal has put a price on that land, but the agreement also lets the city keep issuing event parking permits there until escrow closes, and it makes the city responsible for the hotel's parking. While the property stays in city hands, the lots remain available on the Village's busy days.
What the Council Actually Approved on August 4
The Council voted 4-0 to approve a purchase and sale agreement with Gather Capital Inc. covering about 3.55 acres. The price is set at $16.50 per square foot on roughly 154,638 square feet, which comes to an estimated $2,551,527 once the final square footage is confirmed.
The plans are preliminary. They show a single-phase hotel of about 150 to 180 rooms with up to 20 cabanas, a pool, a ballroom, meeting space, restaurants and bars, a gym and a little retail. Hannouche Architects would design it as a modern take on La Quinta Village's architectural heritage.
The vote approved a process with conditions. It did not approve a construction project. Until the conditions below are met, the land stays with the city:
- Deposit: Gather puts $100,000 of earnest money into escrow. The city receives it in two $50,000 payments as Gather hits milestones.
- Six months after escrow opens: Gather owes a complete design review package and all entitlement applications. A development agreement also has to be finished, and the city has to show that enough electrical service is available or will be.
- Six months after entitlements: Gather owes full construction drawings and permit applications.
- Financing: Gather has to show construction financing, enough equity and the financial capacity to buy the land and finish the hotel.
- Closing: Escrow has to close within 18 months of opening, with up to a 60-day extension if both sides agree.
The development agreement will run with the land, so its deadlines would still apply if Gather transferred the project to an approved successor. City representatives told the Council it would include performance dates and default terms.
Parking Is the City's Side of the Deal
For a Village resident, this is the clause that matters most. Under the agreement, the hotel depends on a new parking structure that the city would pay for and build as its own public project. In the first six-month window, La Quinta has to solicit bids and award a construction contract for it. The agreement does not set the structure's size, location, cost or completion date.
If the hotel opens before the garage is done, the city has to provide enough temporary parking close to the hotel to meet its operating and city requirements.
Until escrow closes, the city also keeps the right to issue temporary parking permits for events on the property. Mayor Linda Evans said the land will stay available while La Quinta finishes its Village parking study and weighs longer-term options. Walker Consultants is doing that study. City demand registers show a $12,362.50 invoice for June 2026 and a $30,400 invoice for July 2026 on the "LQ Village Parking Study." At the Planning Commission meeting recorded in the City's October 6 Council packet, the Planning Manager's update listed the study alongside several other city projects.
Power is the third piece. The city has to work toward making at least 2,500 amps of service available for the hotel. Gather can decide whether the Imperial Irrigation District's cost, timing and conditions are commercially acceptable. "The IID power component is a critical piece," Evans said at the meeting, GPS Business Insider reported.
The Season the Lots Are Already Carrying
GPS Business Insider lists four events that use the parcels for overflow parking: the La Quinta Art Celebration, Art on Main Street, the Certified Farmers Market and the city's holiday tree lighting. Their dates for this season:
| Event | Where | When | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Farmers Market | Old Town La Quinta, 78100 Main St. | Sundays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., October through May | Free to browse |
| Art on Main Street | Old Town La Quinta, 78100 Main St. | Saturdays Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, 2026; Jan. 2, 16 and 30, Feb. 13 and 27, Mar. 13 and 27, and Apr. 3, 2027; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Free |
| Tree Lighting Ceremony | Civic Center Campus, 78495 Calle Tampico | Friday, Dec. 4, 6 to 9 p.m. | Free |
| La Quinta Art Celebration ENCORE | Civic Center Campus, 78495 Calle Tampico | Nov. 12 to 15, 2026, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | $25, or $30 multi-day; under 12 free |
The market reopened for the cooler months in early October, KESQ reported, and its products are grown within 100 miles of the Coachella Valley. Certified Farmers Markets of the Coachella Valley runs it, and its schedule matches the Sunday hours in the table.
The ENCORE parking page listed self-parking at $10 and valet at $15, with free parking at the Village of La Quinta. Because the Civic Center campus and the Old Town shops sit on either side of the gravel lots, a car parked there serves both a Calle Tampico festival and a Main Street Saturday.
The Fall Family Festival held by About Families on November 15 shows that not every city event lands in the Village. That one was at SilverRock Park, with free parking at the lots at 52 and Jefferson and a shuttle to the park.
What the Paseo Would Change About a Saturday
The site plan carries Main Street through the hotel property as a paseo, a pedestrian route linking the civic campus, which includes City Hall, the library and the Wellness Center, to Old Town. Evans tied that link to the city's broader push for complete streets and walkability in the Village.
Erickson described the paseo as more than a walkway. He said it could stretch farmers markets, Cars and Coffee gatherings and holiday events from Old Town toward the library and City Hall, according to GPS Business Insider. In that plan, the land that now holds the cars for those events would hold part of the events themselves, and the garage the city has to build would take over the parking.
Three Blocks of Errands on an Art on Main Saturday
Most of what Art on Main Street visitors walk past is already there. The Old Town La Quinta directory lists these dining spots:
- Main Street Coffee
- YES PLEASE Café & Dessert Shop
- Nitroinfusions Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
- Gabinos
- Lola's at The Cove
- Stuft Pizza Bar & Grill
- The Grill on Main
- RD RNNR Libations, Pints & Plates
- DSRT Club
The newest Village stop is a short walk away on Calle Barcelona. Art for All, a pay-what-you-can creative-reuse shop run by Old Town Artisan Studios at 78046 Calle Barcelona, opened September 1 with a ribbon-cutting co-hosted by Mayor Evans and the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, Hoodline reported. It sells donated and surplus paint, paper, fabric and other supplies with no price tags. The proceeds go to art scholarships, free workshops and classroom supplies around the valley.
According to Old Town Artisan Studios, the shop is open Tuesdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It takes drop-offs of gently used art supplies on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so a Saturday trip can cover a closet clean-out and the Main Street booths together. The studio runs on a 3-acre campus that was once the old Canard's restaurant and homestead.
When the Clock Starts
The deal's deadlines start when escrow opens, and from that date Gather has 18 months to close. GPS Business Insider reported that the city's possible target for opening a hotel is fiscal year 2029-30, a preliminary date that depends on the conditions above. After the ENCORE weekend, the next dates on the calendar are the Sunday farmers markets, Art on Main Street on November 28 and the Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 4. Until escrow closes, the city can keep issuing event parking permits on the lots for all of them.
Watching the Village change around familiar weekend routines is part of living near La Quinta Country Club, and I keep up with each step as these projects move. If you'd like to talk about what the Old Town plans could mean for your corner of La Quinta, Kathleen Galigher is glad to help. Let's Connect.
