Zoning board OKs Route 130 hotel

Hotel gets one steop closer to becoming a reality

By: Joseph Harvie
   The Zoning Board of Adjustment approved plans to build a 25,333-square-foot hotel at the intersection of Route 130 and Melrich Road, Nov. 2.
   Apex Hospitality Group was granted preliminary and final site plan approval to build the 116-room, four-story hotel and a 7,230-square-foot restaurant, as a separate building, on a 5.73-acre former farm. There were several variances granted for the application, including ones to allow fewer rooms than is required, and to have a smaller banquet area than is required.
   The township normally requires hotels to have at least 150 guest rooms, but granted a variance to Apex to allow 116 rooms in the proposed hotel.
   In addition, Apex received a variance to build a free-standing restaurant. The township requires that the restaurant be accessible from the lobby of the hotel building. The restaurant will have 175 seats and 18 barstools, according to the application.
   A variance also was granted to allow the conference center to be 740 square feet. The township requires conference or banquet rooms to be 5,000 square feet or 30 square feet per guestroom, whichever is larger, according to the application.
   A variance was also granted to allow the hotel to be built on the 5.73-acre site, because the township requires 6-acre lots for hotels.
   The hotel will have two entrances, one on Route 130 and another on Melrich Road.
   The hotel rooms will be subject to South Brunswick’s 3 percent hotel tax, meaning guests will pay 3 percent of their room rate as a tax to the township. The rooms will also be subject to a 5 percent occupancy tax.
   The 12 existing hotels in the township generated $798,239 in revenue for the township last year through the local hotel tax, which is expected to generate $795,000 in this year.