How tall is five stories?

With a developer proposing a five-story hotel in downtown Napa, the city will conduct a demonstration Monday morning of what five stories looks like.

Standing atop the former Neighborhood Antiques at First and Franklin streets, people will erect poles to simulate how the proposed Inn at Town Center might appear from the ground.

"This is the first five-story building to go through the planning process. We want people to visualize in the field what that will look like," said Cassandra Walker, the city's economic development manager.

Planning commissioners and council members have been invited to the demonstration, which will last from 9 to 11 a.m., weather permitting.

LodgeWorks, a hotel developer/operator based in Wichita, Kan., is proposing a 142-room hotel on the north side of First, from Franklin to Exertec Fitness Center.

When an earlier version was unveiled in February 2005, planning commissioners asked if downtown was ready for a five-story building. The hotel had a roof line of 57 feet, with a tower feature topping out at 68 feet.

Since then, the project has been thoroughly redesigned, with new architecture and a slightly lower roof line, said Chris Gebert, LodgeWork's senior vice president of development.

The bulk of the building is about as high as it was, but the facade does a much better job of interpreting downtown's architectural past with "a little contemporary flare," Jeff Doran, who owns the site.

The original design, a pastiche of styles and materials, "may not have withstood the test of time," said Doran. To produce the new design, LodgeWorks turned to Heller-Manus Architects of San Francisco, whose portfolio includes many retail and civic projects nationally.

Following city direction, LodgeWorks made the project more upscale, a potential AAA four diamonds instead of three diamonds as first presented, Gebert said.

"That's the direction of the city," Gebert said. "They're pretty clear about the vision they have for downtown Napa."

The Inn at Town Center will have both suites and regular rooms. Suites with fireplaces can be expected to have a peak season rate of $350 to $400, Gebert said. The average year-round rate will be about $200.

The developer is proposing generous 9-foot ceilings in guest rooms rather than trying to stay under the city's 50-foot height limit, Gebert said. As it is, the roof will be 51 feet, 8 inches, plus a parapet, he said.

In the 19th century, downtown had a number of buildings with towers taller than the proposed hotel, Doran said. Today, the marquee of the Uptown Theater and the top of the First Presbyterian Church roof are slightly higher, he said.

The hotel, which is estimated to cost $28 million, is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing on April 20. LodgeWorks would like to break ground in September and open in November 2007, Gebert said.

Public comments on the height of the hotel can be sent to a city planning consultant, Rick Tooker, by e-mail: ricktooker@sbcglobal.net His phone number is 944-8430.

The hotel will have 3,640 square feet of meeting space and a second-floor, open-air plaza of nearly 5,000 square feet. Doran will retain ownership of 12,606 square feet of first floor retail.

To make room for the hotel, LodgeWorks would raze several commercial structures containing 34,000 square feet of retail space. A toy store and a pottery business temporarily occupy the site.

Parking for the Inn at Town Center would be in the Clay Street garage, which abuts the north side of the site. Most guests would enter from First Street using valet parking, their vehicles occupying the upper floors, Walker said.

The hotel was originally intended to be a Sierra Suites Hotel, but was renamed to better fit Napa. Building a "Sierra Suites" in Napa made as much sense as placing a "Hawaiian Village" at Lake Tahoe, Doran said.

This would be the second hotel hoping to start construction this year in downtown. Two weeks ago, the Planning Commission endorsed a 180-room Westin hotel for McKinstry Street at the Napa River.