Most substantial design issues surrounding Santa Fe's first major downtown hotel project in over two decades were resolved last week with all sides praising the collaboration.

Drury Hotels plans to begin remodeling the old St. Vincent Hospital and Marian Hall buildings and adding new structures on the five acres early next year, with an expected opening in 2011.

The last major hotel project downtown was the Eldorado Hotel in the mid-1980s.

On Sept. 1, the city Historic Design Review Board met for at least the sixth time on the Drury project, approving the final major issues and setting Oct. 6 for a hearing on fences and walls, lighting fixtures and signs.

"The way that the applicant worked with the board on such a large project really stands out as the way to do it," board chairwoman Sharon Woods said after the meeting. "They could not have been more cooperative."

Woods said she does not recall such a smooth process in her six years on the board in the 1990s and the four most recently.

"It's a good project," she said. "You have two buildings that are abandoned, basically, and I think they're going to be brought back to life in a really positive way."

Steve Flance, a former city planner and former Historic Design Review Board member who is working for the Drury project, said the only issues left unresolved include:

• The exact dimensions of proposed walls or fences that are to have stucco bases and wrought-iron tops similar to those already in place along Palace Avenue in front of Cathedral Park, Marian Hall and the old St. Vincent building.
• The style of site-lighting fixtures. While the board liked the lighting fixtures proposed for the outside of buildings, they sought more options for those along walking paths and in the parking lot.
• The size of signage.

"In the first meeting that I went to, I said, 'We are not going to move on to City Council. We're going to sit here and work with the H-board,' " Flance said. "It's a big project on an important site in Santa Fe and we want the H-board to be comfortable with it. ... Everybody, at a certain point, we all kind of got on the same plane. It wasn't whether, it was how are we going to do this? And that felt really good."

Flance particularly praised Woods for her leadership. "She broke the project down into sizable bites and we went through it in a very orderly way," he said. "Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we agreed to disagree, but the substance of the discussion was outstanding."

Marilyn Bane, president of the Old Santa Fe Association, which met with the developers several times, also said she was pleased with the outcome.

"I think this particular developer and how they handled it has raised the bar ... because they really have handled themselves with understanding and respect for the city," she said. "They're smart enough to know that the better that they do it, the better it will be for their business in this particular environment."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.