Pantai Inn
Overview
Originally built as a Sears Catalog apartment home before becoming the Shell Beach Motel — a longtime destination for guests attending the Del Mar horse races — this historic, family-run property sits on a 1-acre coastal parcel overlooking the Pacific. The renovation reimagined 30 guest suites and cottages spread across two legal parcels on a sloped grade into the Pantai Inn: a Balinese-themed sanctuary organized around a centralized coral-stone courtyard, sited to maximize panoramic ocean views while restoring the character of the original buildings and achieving full ADA accessibility. I came to the project from the contractor side and ultimately led it through to completion.
At a Glance
1 Acre — Coastal Site
30 — Guest Suites & Cottages
2 — Legal Parcels
Coral-Stone Courtyard — Centralized Design Feature
Sloped Grade — Site Condition
Process
I joined the Pantai Inn renovation on the contractor side, a year into a project that had begun from architect David Lee Soanes’ original design intent and was then being led by Greg Castle of Castle Architects. When the architect of record transitioned off the project, I stepped in and drove the project through to completion — partnering closely with contractors and structural engineers to preserve design integrity across a sloped, two-parcel site, guiding the client through key material and design decisions, developing space plans that honored the Balinese theme within the constraints of a historic footprint, and ensuring every design element met full ADA compliance.
Outcome
Pantai Inn had a grand opening event in April 2014, transforming the century-old property into a Balinese-inspired boutique hotel. It went on to be ranked the top hotel in La Jolla by TripAdvisor’s readers, and continues to operate today with guest reviews consistently citing the coral-stone courtyard, ocean views, and Balinese-inspired décor — the exact design intent the renovation set out to deliver.