KINGS BEACH, Calif. – After being vacant for over five years, the Falcon Lodge on North Lake Blvd will soon undergo improvements, bringing an additional 25 lodging units to Kings Beach, Calif.

Owner, Laulima Kings Beach, LLC, plans to remodel the interiors and exteriors of the three buildings, add new landscaping, and resurface the pavement. Plans also include adding a new driveway onto Brockway Vista Drive, as required by the fire department.

Exterior plans include orange and green paint colors to align with the lodge’s neon sign.

Public letters shared at a Tahoe Regional Planning Agency hearing in mid-March expressed support for seeing the lodging site come back to life after being fenced off and in disrepair for years.

The project also adds Stormwater Best Management Practices to improve water quality.

“It is a scenic improvement. It’s an environmental improvement. It’s a tax benefit improvement,” project consultant Nick Exline of Exline & Company Inc. said at the hearing.

Exline also explained that it satisfies a community desire to see visitors stay in hotels rather than in neighborhood homes. The project maintains the existing density of 25 tourist accommodation units and one single-family residential unit.

A start date for the project’s on-the-ground work is still to be determined, as project managers await certain finalizations from the county’s building department.