PORTSMOUTH – A developer plans to build a new four-story, 116-room hotel off the Route 1 bypass on a currently vacant field next to the Chevrolet dealership in Portsmouth.
The Meadowbrook Inn Corporation, which owns the approximately 40-acre field near Portsmouth Traffic Circle, identified the hotel as a Holiday Inn Express Staybridge Suites in renderings and other architectural drawings filed with the city.
Staybridge Suites describes itself, according to its website, as “an extended-stay hotel offering upscale residential-style studios and suites, a complimentary daily breakfast buffet, complimentary light snacks and happy hour three days a week,” along with “abundant amenities for guests on both short and extended stays.”
The Meadowbrook Inn Corporation intends to build the new hotel on what it describes as a “largely undeveloped” site at 549 U.S. Route 1 Bypass, near the intersection with Coakley Road.
The location is not only close to the Portsmouth Traffic Circle and numerous commercial establishments, but also relatively close to downtown Portsmouth.
Recent change in land use planning allows hotel
According to city assessor records, the property was last valued at $10.7 million.
Earlier this year, the property’s zoning was changed from “General Business” to “Gateway Neighborhood Business,” which allows for the construction of a hotel under a special permit, according to attorney James F. Scully Jr., who represents the Meadowbrook Inn Corporation.
The company/property owner will apply for a special permit from the city’s Board of Adjustment at next Tuesday’s meeting, according to documents filed with the city.
They will also need a special permit from the board to allow 7.85 percent common area, where 10 percent is required, city documents show.
The planned new hotel will have 145 parking spaces on site, Scully said.
He acknowledged that “a limited portion of the proposed (hotel) development will impact the previously established 100-foot wetland buffer area,” and that the Meadowbrook Inn Corporation will need a zoning exception to do so, Scully said.
Typically, developers requiring this type of relief apply for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) from the Planning Board when the project is first approved by the Board of Adjustment.
Many other hotels already in the area
Scully pointed to the location of other hotels near the owner’s property off the Route 1 bypass and said the applicant “sincerely hopes” that the board will grant the request for a special permit.
Scully believes the owner meets the criteria for a special permit because, among other things, the hotel project will not “impair surrounding property values or alter the essential characteristics of any area, including residential or commercial districts.”
“The project is planned in a dense commercial area, in the immediate vicinity of which are a number of similar or larger hotels with approximately the same or greater number of rooms than planned,” Scully said in the application submitted to the city.
In addition, many of the parking spaces needed for the hotel “are already there,” he said.
“In addition, the proposed building is tastefully placed on the site so that the required building distances are maintained,” said Scully.
He also believes that the special permit should be granted because the new hotel neither poses a threat to road safety nor causes “a significant increase in traffic volume in the area”.
“The existing entrances and exits, both adjacent to Coakley Road and the Route 1 Bypass, will remain with a minor modification at the Coakley Road location,” Scully said. “The current dealership at this location has been using these two entrances and exits for quite some time and they do not pose a traffic safety hazard.”
Regarding the special permit application, “the applicant is trying to create as much community space as possible on the property in a tasteful manner without additional impact on the adjacent wetlands,” Scully said.
He added: “Although this community space requirement is new due to recent zoning changes in this area, the applicant understands and appreciates both the intent and purpose of such an arrangement.”
The owner “pushed the design team to come up with a design that would provide as much community space as possible without altering the land necessary for the function of the existing car dealership, proposed hotel and wetland cover,” Scully said.
The proposed new hotel project is scheduled to be discussed at Tuesday’s Board of Adjustment meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in the council chambers at City Hall.
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