Murrieta Hot Springs Resort to reopen for guests in February – The Press-Enterprise

The adults-only pool at the Murrieta Hot Springs Resort in Murrieta is seen Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, from the historic bathhouse. The resort, built more than 100 years ago, is set to reopen to guests from the general public in February after nearly 30 years of other uses. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The whirring of power tools echoed across the Murrieta Hot Springs Resort’s 40-some acres of swimming pools and historic architecture Thursday morning, Jan. 11.

The eastern Murrieta property, known for the geothermal water that bubbles from its hillside, is set to reopen as a wellness resort Thursday, Feb. 1, after serving as a religious retreat for roughly 30 years.

Meanwhile, construction crews are working to ready the sprawling resort for guests. During a Thursday media tour, dozens of workers were digging pools, repairing roads and sidewalks and installing fixtures in buildings.

The hot springs’ history reaches reaches much further back than the buildings.

The “geothermal anomaly” is likely due to the Elsinore fault zone’s proximity, according to a 1980s California Department of Conservation report. Before Europeans reached present-day Murrieta in the 1800s, the water was used by the native Luiseño people, the city’s general plan states.

In the 1870s, the property was still ranchland, and Spanish immigrant Juan Murrieta would wash his sheep in the spring water, according to the city’s website. Having heard of the water’s healing properties, Fritz Guenther bought the land in 1902 and turned it into a resort, which soon attracted visitors from across the country, according to the resort’s website. Guests included Hollywood stars such as Jack Benny and Marilyn Monroe.

Beginning around 1970, the resort changed hands and purposes a number of times.

In 1995, it was bought by the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, a Christian megachurch based in Orange County, and became the Christian Conference Center and Bible College Campus. Some Murrieta residents were unhappy that the property — which had been a nightclub for the first half of the 1990s — was closed to the public.

The church listed the property for sale in 2021, and in 2022, it sold for $50 million to the Olympus Real Estate Group, whose other projects include a hot springs resort in Colorado.

Murrieta Mayor Lori Stone said Friday, Jan. 12, that she’s excited to see the resort return to its original use.

There’s a personal tie for Stone, who lived in the adjacent mobile home park in 1976, when she was 14, and later resided in one of the condos below the property.

The resort will “impact our local residents in such a positive way,” she said, mentioning the day-pass option, the restaurants — which will be open to the public — and the fact that the Murrieta Hot Springs Resort Conference Center will be used for municipal gatherings like the State of the City address.

“It’s going to be absolutely amazing,” she said, adding that the resort will “put Murrieta on the map.”

Construction and renovation cost about $50 million, Jesse Hensle, vice president of marketing, said.

Those efforts began about 18 months ago, said David Dronet, managing partner of Olympus Real Estate Group.

Dronet said the wellness industry has “become the primary focus” of the group, which has a four-part “vitality ethos,” that consists of sleep, nutrition, exercise and revitalization.

“The core of what we do is in the revitalization piece,” Dronet said. “That’s the waters, the spa treatments, all the contrast therapies that are offered across the property.”

Marcus Coplin, the resort’s medical director, whose background is in naturopathic medicine, said the spring water’s alkalinity and minerals, which include sodium, potassium, chloride, boron, silica, lithium, and a high amount of bicarbonate, are what make it special.

The National Library of Medicine and the National Park Service list the minerals as characteristic or common in natural mineral waters, except for boron or boric acid, which the latter says is uncommon, but found in large amounts in Southern California springs.

None of the resorts buildings were replaced. Instead, the existing structures, including the bathhouse and hotel buildings, which are dated roughly from the 1910s to 1960s, have been renovated. Staff joked that they had received the “refresh” often referenced in the plastic surgery industry.

The oldest is the Monterey Lodge, which Coplin said was built around 1918.

The Historic Bathhouse, which Coplin said was constructed in the 1940s, has the white walls and arched doorways of the Spanish revival style often found in Southern California. It includes soaking pools of various temperatures, a sauna, a rooftop for sunbathing and a mud loft. The mud is made of spring water and clay sourced from the Mohave Desert.

Sharon Holtz, vice president of wellness, said a focus that has informed the resort’s spaces is “social wellness” and being able to bring guests together, especially in areas such as the bathhouse.

All together, the resort has more than 50 pools and water features — some filled with spring water, and some with traditionally treated pool water. The spring water surfaces, steaming, near the top of the property, and Coplin said the temperature fluctuates between about 120 and 130 degrees. Water then moves downward through the pools before settling into a lake and pond, and eventually seeping back underground.

Some amenities, including the bathhouse and spa, will be open Feb. 1. Others will welcome visitors in the coming months, like the restaurant, Talia, which is set to open in April. Guests can also enjoy a bar, a cafe and a fitness center.