Hotel to have 100 rooms in plan approved by board

By vincent todaro
Staff Writer

Hotel to have 100 rooms
in plan approved by board
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — A Holiday Inn Express has long had approval to be built on Naricon Place, but its owner has changed the way that building will look.

At the Dec. 19 Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting, the applicant, East Coast Hospitality Group Inc., presented the board with a number of changes it wished to make to its application, which was approved by the board in March. The changes include reducing the number of rooms so that the applicant can add more amenities to the facility.

The hotel is to be located behind Tower Center and adjacent to the Village Swim Club.

When the application was originally approved, the hotel was scheduled to have 112 rooms. That number has now been reduced to 100.

Board Chairman Steve Philips said the plan calls for more amenities for hotel guests.

"They added an indoor pool and workout room, an exercise room. They took out some rooms that would have been on the first floor to add the pool and exercise room," he said.

Another change involves the lobby ceiling.

"There’s no longer just a 9- or 10-foot ceiling in the front of the lobby," he said. "It’s a new look and the ceiling will be higher."

In addition, the style of the roof line has been changed to create more of a Colonial look, he said.

The board was concerned the indoor pool would be used by people other than guests of the hotel, but Philips said the board was assured by East Coast Hospitality that, even if business is slow, it will only allow guests at the hotel to use the pool.

The number of parking spots has also been slightly reduced because of the decrease in rooms, he said.

A call to the applicant’s attorney was not returned.

When the application was proposed earlier this year, it drew criticism from some board members because it contained a first-floor parking garage. At the time, Philips said the plan looked like a "hotel on stilts."

The applicant agreed to remove that parking garage, thus making the five-story building only four stories. To replace the garage, a 78-spot separate exterior lot was created.

The board granted site plan approval, as well as a use variance and bulk variances, during its March 7 meeting.

The applicant needed a bulk variance because a township ordinance requires that the hotel have one parking spot for each room. Representatives of East Coast Hospitality told the board the hotel would rarely reach full occupancy, and argued that it did not need 112 spots.

A representative from the adjacent swim club testified that the hotel could also use some of its parking spaces.

The hotel will be built on a 1.6-acre site sold to East Coast Hospitality by the swim club. The swim club will remain in operation on the adjacent 4-acre site.

A use variance was granted because a township ordinance requires hotels to be built on at least 5 acres.

Other variances were needed for a free-standing sign, as well as front- and rear-yard setbacks.

Gerald Gordon, co-owner of the swim club, had said he needed to sell the 1.6 acres in order to stay solvent.

When the idea was made to eliminate the first-floor parking garage, more room was made available for the exterior lot because ramps for entry into the garage were no longer needed, Philips said.

"All the area they had for ramps to get in became room for them to have regular parking spots," he said.

The board voted 5-0 to approve the amended plan at last week’s meeting.

"We felt it enhanced the appearance and benefited the way this new operation would look and would operate," Philips said of the decision.