Orchid Tree Resort Palm Springs: Development Progress Tracker
Track the Orchid Tree Resort & Spa redevelopment in downtown Palm Springs, including historic preservation review, current plans, milestones and future construction progress.
Orchid Tree Resort & Spa is a long-delayed downtown Palm Springs hotel and residential project built around two designated historic resources: the former Community Church and the Orchid Tree Inn bungalows. The current application proposes restoring those historic structures while adding a new luxury resort on the surrounding block.
This tracker separates the current 2026 application from older versions that received approvals but were never built. It follows preservation review, entitlement milestones, construction and eventual opening without treating a rendering, approval or target date as completed development.
- Current status: historic-preservation review continued after a 4–3 vote on September 30, 2026; four design items were sent back for additional study.
- Location: the downtown block bounded by Belardo Road, Arenas Road, Baristo Road and Cahuilla Road.
- Current project: a four-story luxury resort with hotel rooms, condominiums, restaurants, spa, private-club/event uses, pools and parking, plus adaptive reuse of the historic church and eight bungalows.
- Historic core: the Community Church and Orchid Tree Inn bungalows are both Palm Springs Class 1 historic sites.
- Next checkpoint: revised preservation items return to the Historic Site Preservation Board; a date has not been established in the sources checked October 1.
Orchid Tree Resort: current status
The Historic Site Preservation Board voted 4–3 to send four design items back for additional study.
This tracker has not established a current construction start. Planning and preservation review remain active.
The proposal retains and restores the Class 1 Community Church and the eight remaining Class 1 Orchid Tree Inn bungalows.
The March 2026 City update shifted the contractual construction-start milestone to January 2028. It is a target, not proof that work will begin then.
What is being proposed?
The City’s current planning page describes a comprehensive redevelopment of the block bounded by Belardo, Arenas, Baristo and Cahuilla. New Church II, LLC is the applicant. The proposal includes a four-story luxury five-star hotel with restaurants, a cocktail lounge, spa, meeting and event space, a private club, a small gym, hotel rooms, condominiums, outdoor pools and cabanas, landscaping, and surface and underground parking.
The historic Community Church would be adaptively reused for restaurant, private-club, kitchen and back-of-house functions. The eight remaining historic Orchid Tree bungalows would be restored as hotel guest rooms.
For the latest preservation review, City documents described by The Palm Springs Post identify 66 guest rooms in the new resort building and 20 condominiums, in addition to the eight historic bungalow guest rooms. That differs from earlier project descriptions, including the 2025 covenant version. DOI therefore dates room and condominium counts rather than presenting older numbers as current.
Why the historic buildings matter
The Community Church dates to the mid-1930s and was designated a Palm Springs Class 1 historic site in 1989. The Orchid Tree Inn bungalows date to roughly 1934 and were designated Class 1 in 2010. Fires damaged the church in 2013 and again in 2022.
The project’s preservation component is not decorative context; it is central to the entitlement process. Earlier versions of the hotel won approvals in 2015, 2016 and 2020 but were not built, and those approvals expired in May 2023. Palm Springs is treating the current application, deemed complete in 2026, as a new project.
What happened on September 30?
Planning staff recommended approval of the historic restoration request with five conditions. Instead, the Historic Site Preservation Board voted 4–3 to continue the item and requested more study of four issues: masonry material for a church stair addition, removal of two trellises, revised landscaping near outdoor dining, and the form and location of a detached pool cabana and shower building.
The cabana generated the most discussion because board members questioned whether its location would obstruct the historic view into the bungalow courtyard. The fifth staff condition—a detailed restoration plan prepared by a preservation expert—does not need to return for the same additional review.
The project was not rejected. The continuance means those design issues return to the board before the preservation approval moves forward. City staff cautioned that another review adds time because the board normally meets monthly and another special meeting may be needed.
Which dates matter next?
The four continued design items must return to the Historic Site Preservation Board. No new meeting date was established in the sources checked October 1.
The March 2026 City update shifted the covenant milestone from July 2027 to January 2028.
The same City update shifted the certificate-of-occupancy milestone from December 2029 to June 2030.
Demolition requests for 200 S. Cahuilla Road and 205 S. Belardo Road are expected to receive separate preservation review.
DOI field-photo baseline
DOI will add a dated field baseline of the church, bungalow courtyard, surrounding vacant/development parcels and the full downtown block. Future visits can then compare the same views as preservation work and construction advance.
Development history and update log
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Preservation decision continued
The board votes 4–3 to restudy four design items rather than issue the requested approval that day.
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Current application in review
The City lists the redevelopment applications in review. A March City Council update shifts covenant milestones to January 2028 for construction start and June 2030 for certificate of occupancy.
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Operations Covenant Agreement approved
City Council approves another framework intended to move the long-stalled project toward development, with property-maintenance and performance requirements.
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Earlier approvals expire
Prior entitlements from earlier hotel versions expire after years without construction.
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Another church fire
A second major fire further damages the vacant Community Church.
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Multiple earlier approvals
Successive hotel and preservation proposals move through City review but do not result in completed development.
Frequently asked questions
Is Orchid Tree Resort approved and under construction?
No. The current 2026 application remains in review, and the September 30 historic-preservation item was continued for additional study. Earlier versions received approvals but were not built.
How many hotel rooms are currently proposed?
The latest September 2026 preservation-review reporting describes 66 guest rooms in the new four-story resort building plus eight restored historic bungalow guest rooms. Older versions used different counts, so DOI dates these figures rather than combining them.
Are condominiums part of the project?
Yes. The current preservation-review description includes 20 condominiums. The City’s planning page notes that a tentative tract map will be required for condominium uses.
Will the historic church and bungalows be demolished?
The current proposal calls for restoring and adaptively reusing the Class 1 Community Church and restoring the eight remaining Class 1 Orchid Tree Inn bungalows. Separate demolition requests concern other structures on the broader development site.
When is Orchid Tree Resort expected to open?
No guaranteed public opening date is established here. A March 2026 City update shifted the certificate-of-occupancy milestone to June 2030, but planning, preservation, financing and construction milestones still have to be completed.
Sources & methodology
- City of Palm Springs / Engage Palm Springs — current project description, applicant, site, applications and case numbers
- The Palm Springs Post, September 30, 2026 — preservation-board vote, current room/condominium description and items continued
- The Palm Springs Post, March 11, 2026 — revised covenant milestones
- Palm Springs Preservation Foundation — historic-resource chronology and prior project milestones
Editorial approach: current City material controls the description of the active application. Older room counts and prior approvals are retained only as dated history. A rendering, entitlement, covenant milestone or preservation approval is not treated as proof of construction.
