San Diego's Consortium Holdings Hospitality Company Adds Third Area Hotel To Its Growing Portfolio

May 17, 2022

San Diego's Consortium Holdings hospitality group (Craft & Commerce, Neighborhood) has taken over its third area hotel.

Consortium Holdings founder Arsalun Tafazoli has entered into a longterm lease for Coronado's 29-guestroom La Avenida Inn for an undisclosed price. Located off Orange Avenue in the heart of San Diego's picturesque Coronado, La Avenida Inn sits a block from the beach and historic Hotel del Coronado. The 22,000-plus square-foot hotel property was last purchased for $10,486,000 in November 2018 by the Shah family, including founder Ben Shah and his son Alex. The following spring, the Shah's acquired neighboring La Avenida Plaza for $14,225,000. The plaza is home to numerous restaurants and retail shops including Stake Chophouse and Cotier. There is no word on the terms of Tafazoli's agreement or whether it also includes the plaza. 

La Pensione Hotel in Little Italy.
Photo from Next Wave Commercial.

La Avenida Inn is the third San Diego hotel Tafazoli has taken control of in the past year. In March 2021, he finalized the purchase of North Park's 75-year-old The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows for $25,815,000. Then later in 2021, Tafazoli purchased Little Italy's 67-room, European-style La Pensione Hotel for nearly $18 million. Like La Pensione Hotel, La Avenida Inn does not have any onsite restaurant, although both properties will sell beer, wine and spirits to guests. 

A San Diego native and UCSD alumni, Arsalun Tafazoli began his Consortium Holdings hospitality company in 2007 with the opening of Neighborhood in San Diego's East Village. Consortium Holdings now has over a dozen concepts around San Diego, including cocktail-focused Polite Provisions, classy dive bar El Dorado, neighborhood bar & restaurant Craft & Commerce with adjacent tiki-speakeasy False Idol, two locations of its Japanese fusion restaurant Underbelly, modern barbershop Dover Honing Co. (which remains closed since the beginning of the pandemic), seafood-centric Ironside Fish & Oyster, bi-level steakhouse Born & Raised, Westfield UTC bottle shop and speakeasy Raised By Wolves, brunch-centered Morning Glory, Chinese restaurant Fortunate Son, and industry-focused East Village sandwich shop and Negroni bar J & Tony's Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Warehouse with neighboring coffee shop Invigatorium in partnership with San Diego's Modern Times Beer.

The bar at The Reading Club.

Last summer, CH opened Seneca Italian trattoria on the 19th floor of the InterContinental Hotel in San Diego's downtown marina district. Last fall, they unveiled the 14,000 square-foot Uncle Italian bar & restaurant on the University of California San Diego campus. Members-only social house The Reading Club also opened recently next door to Seneca restaurant atop the InterContinental San Diego.

Consortium Holdings remains busy with several additional concepts in the works, including an incoming bar & restaurant under development in North Park called Leila. Tafazoli also purchased the shopping plaza at 3401 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, which sits across the street from Blind Lady AleHouse and approximately a half mile from CH's Polite Provisions. There is no word yet on what is planned for that space. Arsalun also took over ownership of Bar Pink in North Park in 2020 and plans to convert the space to become a new Japanese-inspired listening & cocktail bar dubbed Part Time Lover. The former Red Fox Room at the base of The Lafayette Hotel will also become a new bar & restaurant from CH Projects. 

There is no word yet on the exact changes planned for the La Avenida Inn property, but we anticipate Tafazoli to implement extensive design upgrades over the next year. La Avenida Inn is located at 1315 Orange Avenue in San Diego's Coronado. For more information, visit laavenidainn.com and consortiumholdings.com.