The U.S. Grant Hotel, once the elegant...

The U.S. Grant Hotel, once the elegant centerpiece of downtown San Diego, will reopen December 15 with what its owners hope will be renewed granduer after a four-year, $80 million renovation.

The historic hotel, dubbed the “old, gray lady” because of was once painted in battleship gray, has undergone extensive remodeling to make it a modern luxury hotel that owner Christopher Sickels and his CDS-Grant Associates intend to retain its original turn-of-the-century, understated elegance.

While the 75-year-old landmark will re-open for business Sunday at 12:01 a.m., the official grand opening and dedication ceremony will be held Jan. 9. On Jan. 11, a gala grand ball will be held at the hotel to benefit the San Diego Historical Society, which has given its support to the renovation effort.

Christy Freeman, director of public relations for the Historical Society, said proceeds from the ball will benefit the new San Diego Museum of History.

The Grant Grill, traditional wateringhole for some of San Diego’s old-line business and political elite, is scheduled to open on Jan. 20.

The U.S. Grant was built in 1910, by Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. to honor his father, the Civil War general and 18th President of the United States. The hotel has been a local landmark for decades and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The Grant was once the showplace of San Diego hotels, playing host to such dignitaries as Albert Einstein, Charles Lindbergh, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy.

Hotel officials said they expect the refurbished Grant, now painted beige and facing a modern Horton Plaza, to become one of San Diego’s premier convention and meeting centers. Originally, owners believed the renovation would cost only $11 million, but the price tag grew to nearly eight times that amount as the work continued. About $6 million of the renovation money came from a federal Urban Development Action Grant awarded to Sickels.

Fred Grand, the hotel’s general manager, said the Grant has about 27,000 square feet of meeting space in 16 meeting rooms that can accommodate between 25 to 1,000 people in the grand ballroom.

The officials also say that more than 80% of the hotel’s guests will be business travelers or participants in small group meetings. The hotel is not expecting to attract local residents as overnight guests but will become a focal point for local social functions, said Grand.

The hotel will offer 283 rooms, including 61 suites, that will cost between $110 to $1,600 a night. Most of the rooms are furnished in mahagony, and include two- and four-poster beds, armoires, and wingback chairs. Baths are equipped with marble and ceramic tile showers and tubs, guest robes, French hand-milled soaps and a telephone.

Many of the suites feature built-in bars, fireplaces, chandeliers and Jacuzzi tubs.

Grand said he expects about a 60% occupancy rate for the hotel during its first year of operation.