The iconic Sir Francis Drake Hotel at the heart of San Francisco's Union Square is debuting a new name, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The hotel, which first opened in 1928 on Powell Street, will now be called the Beacon Grand as part of a top-to-bottom rebranding of the space, the paper reported.
The newly christened Beacon Grand had been closed since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago, but it was purchased last April by the Northview Hotel Group for around $157 million. The hotel had been previously owned by the Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, according to the paper.
"Everything was done with so much thought for such an iconic property," Leah Goldstein, a spokesperson for Northview, told the Chronicle. "We are not just changing the name and then quickly changing everything about the hotel. It is all much more intentional than that."
A large reason for the name change is the acknowledgment that Sir Francis Drake, a famous explorer, was also a slave trader, the paper reported.
But other elements of the storied hotel will remain intact and preserved by an Oakland architecture firm working with the hotel group on the interior, the paper reported.
"The new concept very much honors and respects the history of the iconic hotel," Goldstein told the paper. "We are aiming for early March to share more details and images."
The Northview Hotel Group did not respond to KCBS Radio's request for comment at the time of publication.
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