Under new ownership, the hostel in New Monterey gets a makeover.

The pandemic shuttered Hostelling International’s Monterey location in early 2020, sparked new ownership and the start of a complete renovation in 2021. The city’s only hostel is now set to reopen in 2022.

The hostel, located at the corner of Irving Avenue and Hawthorne Street, was sold to Nashville-based hostel nonprofit organization, HostellingOn, in February for an estimated $1.3 million, according to property tax records. Ryan Oetting, property manager for HostellingOn, says the organization’s owner, Ron Limb, is from the area and that the Monterey hostel is the nonprofit’s first location outside of Tennessee.

Work began on the property’s complete renovation in May. The inside is completely gutted down to the studs. Oetting says the renovation is aimed at making the hostel more hospitable to a post-pandemic world, with more compartmentalized guest spaces. He says the organization is still in the planning phase of the design.

“We hope to be starting construction by the end of the year and the goal is to open some time in 2022,” Oetting says.

Lori Williamson, Monterey’s chief building official, says the plan did not pass its initial submission, but that the organization is adjusting the proposal. She says city documents show the hostel is planning seven rooms on the top floor and seven rooms on the bottom, a remodel of the kitchen area and a proposed new tech center.

The building, which once headquartered the local carpenters’ union, has changed hands a couple times over the last decade.

Before HostellingOn purchased the property via Otterway LLC, the building was owned by American Youth Hostels Inc., which bought the property in 2014 from Central California Council of American Hostels. In its last iteration, it hosted guests as well as book and travel talks with potluck dinners, serving as a gathering place for locals.