WATCH HILL -- Raw ocean winds and scattered rains did not deter bundled onlookers from gathering Friday for the unveiling and lighting of the Ocean House's new sign.

"Go ahead, take it down," Chuck Royce, the five-star hotel's owner and developer, announced Friday afternoon before a crowd of more than 70 community members and construction crew members.

Dimeo Construction workers on a crane removed a white banner to reveal the distinctive black lettering spelling out Ocean House. Attendees greeted the roughly 3-foot-by-20-foot placard with applause.

Nicholas Moore, a lifelong seasonal resident and president of the investment group backing the project, described the sign as a "faithful replication" of the one that had topped the original Victorian hotel. The sign was among 5,000 architectural details and elements either restored or replicated when the landmark was torn down.

Royce said the unveiling signals a six-month countdown to the new Bluff Avenue hotel's planned June 1 opening.

"This is the spring to the finish," Moore agreed.

While attendees could not go inside the hotel Friday, they were invited onto the expansive porch for hot cider, cookies and glimpses through the windows at the work-in-progress interior.

Bill and Janet Stoddard live just down the road and have been following the project's progress.

Janet Stoddard said she saw the sign go up the other day: "I said it's the same. I recognized it from years ago."

She said she first came to the Ocean House as a girl in 1952 and recalled sitting on the deck in the evening with her mother.

"It was really quite a lovely spot," she said.

"We take it for granted," Bill Stoddard added.

Mo Zaharie, owner of Mo Books-N-Art on Bay Street, was also looking forward to the hotel's opening. She said her business has decreased 30 percent since the Ocean House closed in 2003.

She said she expects things to improve with its reopening: "I'm positive it will."

The $135-million project, spearheaded by community investment group Bluff Avenue LLC, includes 49 guestrooms as well as 23 private condominiums priced between $1.5 to $6 million. Amenities also include a private Club Room and bar, Seasons restaurant, Seaside Terrace Café, spa, ocean view lap pool, fitness center, croquet court, private beach and over 1,000 square feet of event space.

The group sought to recreate the historic hotel, built in 1868, while modernizing it to operate year-round.

As darkness fell, departing onlookers paused to look back at the now-lit Ocean House.

"It's so beautiful," said one woman, taking in the twinkling holiday wreath and lantern light swaying over the front entrance.

edupuis@thewesterlysun.com