BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
The owner of the American Hotel wants to add a fourth floor to the building and create 55 hotel rooms at the Main Street, Freehold, landmark.
The hotel and banquet facility has been closed since late 2003. Notices posted on the building indicated the structure is a fire hazard due to the fact the fire alarm system was shut for nonpayment of fees.
Now Valdet Kelmendi, of Staten Island, N.Y., who owns 100 percent of the hotel stock under the corporate name Hoti Inc. in Freehold, has filed an application to renovate and add on to the historic structure.
The zoning board has scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 26.
Kelmendi is seeking a height variance. The plan intends to add a fourth floor to the existing building which will bring the height of the hotel to 48 feet.
According to architect Dan-iel Bach, of Bach and Clark, Freehold, the proposed plan will bring back a building that has been a large part of the borough’s history.
“It is impossible to do anything with the rooms the way they now exist,” Bach said. “We need to tear down the existing second and third floors and build new second, third and fourth floors.”
He said the way the building was added onto over the years makes it difficult to renovate now without doing some demolition. The hotel dates back to the mid-1800s.
Bach said Kelmendi’s plan will leave the first floor of the hotel, which houses a restaurant and banquet facilities, intact, but will provide some needed improvements. For example, according to Bach, renovations are proposed for the restaurant, an expansion is planned for the hotel lobby, the existing staircase would be rebuilt and two elevators will be added off the lobby.
Bach said hotels traditionally have more than 100 rooms. He said the plan for a 55-room facility will provide an inn-type of atmosphere that will include dining. The rooms will be decorated in a colonial theme.
Bach said the plan intends to keep the outside of the hotel similar to the way it is now. He said the applicant wants to retain the character of the building. Future plans could add a fitness center or night club at the American Hotel.
Bach said that if the application is approved the restaurant and banquet facilities will be operating before the hotel rooms are completed.
One issue that will have to be addressed by the applicant is outstanding taxes, utility bills and fire violations.
According to borough tax collector Ed Lewis, Hoti Inc. owes first, second and third quarter taxes to the borough totaling $37,802 in 2004. The firm also owes more than $2,200 in water bills. A tax sale in September cleared taxes and water bills for 2003 which totaled more than $55,000 combined.
According to a statute, all taxes and outstanding bills will have to be paid before approvals are allowed.
The statute states that “every application for development submitted to the planning board or the zoning board of adjustment shall be accompanied by proof that no taxes or assessments for local improvements, water or sewer are due or delinquent on the property.”
The law states that if it is shown that “taxes or assessments are delinquent on such property, any approvals or other relief guaranteed by either board shall be conditioned upon either the prompt payment of such taxes or the making of an adequate provision for the payment thereof in such a manner that the borough shall be adequately protected.”