More than a year after paying $15.5 million for the Rancho Valencia resort, the new owners plan to spend $20 million early next year to renovate the 45-acre property in Rancho Santa Fe.

The major overhaul, which will include added meeting space, a new restaurant, redesigned ballroom and yoga pavilion, will require shutting down the 49-suite hotel for roughly six months, beginning Jan. 3.

The closure will mean temporary layoffs for some 100 employees, who represent a little more than half of the luxury resort's workforce.

"We're trying to limit as much effect on our business and employees as we can, so we’re timing it during our slow season," said Jeff Jacobs, part of an investment group that purchased the 22-year-old property in May 2010 from the longtime owners, the Collins family.

"You can try to keep a place open and grind along, but when there’s noise from construction going on, people will be unhappy or will want discounts, and then you close the kitchen so it’s a painful process to keep it open."

The employees who are being laid off will be given a generous severance package and a retention bonus if they agree to remain at the hotel until the end of the year, Jacobs said. Everyone, though, will need to reapply for their jobs, he added.