By JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
NORTH BRUNSWICK — An international hotel chain is expanding into North Brunswick, adding to the booming expansion in town.
Holiday Inn Express will construct a 93-guest-room hotel on Route 1 south by Elizabeth Street, adjacent to its partner Staybridge Suites.
James Stahl, the attorney for applicant Koyal Realty LLC, came before the North Brunswick Planning Board on Feb. 7 to seek an amended site plan approval, since the original application called for 84 guest rooms and three conference rooms.
Instead, the owner of the hotel chain, IHG Hotels, decided there was no need for the meeting rooms and required them to be converted to hotel rooms, Stahl said. As such, eight of the additional rooms will be single-bed rooms and one will be handicap-accessible, according to David Springsteen, licensed New Jersey architect.
“There are no structural changes to the footprint of the building,” Springsteen said.
Rita Courvill, who will be the general manager of the Holiday Inn, testified that the hotel will be a business destination during the week and cater to visiting sports teams for Rutgers University on the weekends. Therefore, she said, most patrons will use the hotel shuttle, a taxi or Uber for their transportation needs instead of requiring parking spaces.
She also noted a program with the Rutgers golf club that holds three- and 10-week programs to certify students to work at a golf course — those students would be dropped off by their parents and shuttled by the hotel to campus.
“I do not see that at all to be a problem,” Courvill said of having 81 parking spaces on site, instead of the 93 required by township ordinance.
Licensed professional engineer/traffic engineer Jay Troutman elaborated on the traffic and parking impacts being “negligible,” stating that the access to the property would be a right turn off Route 1 south or ingress and egress from Elizabeth Street, with any overflow parking allowed on Elizabeth. Plus, he added, there will be “synergy” with the neighboring Staybridge Suites both through roadway and pedestrian connectivity.
Troutman said the nine additional guest rooms would only generate about one additional vehicle every 15 minutes, which is a “minimal impact.”
The Planning Board voted to approve the application.
The Holiday Inn Express joins a Courtyard by Marriott, two medical office buildings, a drive-through Panera Bread and other developments that are planned for North Brunswick.
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].