Viceroy Santa Monica Hotel Updates and Upgrades with Bomanite Modena

Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.For more than 20 years, the Viceroy Santa Monica has been the area’s mainstay of beach-chic luxury.  It is a place for slow days and fast company.  In 2020 when the Viceroy Hotel Group unveiled plans for a sweeping $21 million interior and exterior renovation of their flagship location, the intent was to usher in a new era in contemporary California cool.  Located along famed Ocean Avenue, the reimagined Viceroy Santa Monica is now more than that because of the Bomanite Modena decorative concrete flooring now enhancing all the common areas on the first level, the deftly curated collection of arts and artifacts, and the ambiance of west coast glam.

Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.“The design objective at Viceroy Santa Monica was to re-envision a completely new arrival experience, reception, bar, lounge, and poolside into something both breathtaking and quintessential,” says Ramon Gonzalez, project manager for EDG Interior Architecture and Design.  “The bar at the Viceroy is an indoor/outdoor experience, the main feature that anchors the interior to the exterior,” says Gonzalez of the impetus for EDG’s design. “We wanted all of the colors, art, and finish selections to work together in a sophisticated celebration of ocean-side style. Within any interior, besides the ceiling, the floor plane is the largest format of finish that users experience as they pass through a space, so we needed to do something spectacular.”

Something Spectacular is Realized

Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.Bomanite Licensee Heritage Bomanite was chosen to implement that vision.  They installed Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL and terrazzo banding to create the stunningly spectacular decorative concrete flooring.  The hotel’s existing floor was a layered fortress of tongue and groove oak planks glued to a plywood substrate affixed to the slab using concrete nails.  None of that had aged well.  “The original wooden floor was in pretty rough shape,” continues Gonzalez. “We knew the floor was being removed and needed a durable replacement that had no boundary between interior and exterior. A decorative concrete floor laid on top of the existing slab was a cost-effective solution for the owner, but we needed something that would express the design’s artistic qualities using a combination of integral colors and the banding segmentation of a terrazzo.”

Technical Expertise Supports Designers

Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.The breezy ocean vibe of Viceroy Santa Monica allowed designers to seek a look that symbolized southern California’s soft golden sand.  “We worked closely with Bomanite’s Technical Director to explore an almost endless array of aesthetic choices in conjunction with preliminary pricing to get the exact look and feel we wanted at an achievable cost,” says Gonzalez of the floor’s material selection process. “Bomanite produced samples to show us the details of flecking dispersion, the effects of different sized aggregates, and reviewed banding layouts to improve constructability and performance.”  Technical expertise provided by Bomanite is invaluable in helping architects and designers realize the possibilities they can only imagine.

Construction Challenge of Operational Hotel

Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.The challenge of renovating Viceroy Santa Monica while the hotel remained operational was awarded to PWI Construction, a nationwide general contractor and construction manager specializing in hospitality, restaurants, and luxury retail.  “Removing the existing floor was a big challenge,” says Alen Meneou, PWI Construction’s superintendent of a demolition process that unexpectedly involved forklifts, bobcats, and jackhammers. “It took nearly a month to remove the floor and prepare the concrete slab to receive the new finish. Because we had so many other subcontractors working in and around the main lobby everything had to be done in sections.”  Definitely a daunting task when you add in the variable of paying guests traversing around the space.

Construction view of Viceroy Santa Monica located in Santa Monica, CA, completes their renovation featuring decorative concrete custom flooring with Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems using Bomanite Modena SL installed by Heritage Bomanite.Heritage Bomanite, always up for a challenge and excels in complex, custom concrete solutions, installed approximately 4,500 square feet of Modena at ¾” thick segmented by 1,600 linear feet of brass terrazzo strips per EDG’s layout.  “In luxury hospitality, an exceptional experience is always the expectation. You have to be patient with this kind of work if you want exceptional results,” finishes Meneou. “Heritage Bomanite did a great job with the floor. I could tell their team liked what they were doing, which always makes a big difference in the way things turn out.”

Award Winning Decorative Concrete

Heritage Bomanite earned both the GOLD AWARD for the Best Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems and the coveted Bomanite Outstanding System Project GRAND AWARD for the Viceroy Santa Monica project.  When a team of Bomanite professional craftsmen likes what they are doing, good things happen for them and for the owners of the winning project.