SAUGERTIES >> Proposals for an 86-room Holiday Inn Express hotel near the Winston Farm and an 80-unit apartment complex south of the hamlet of Glasco are in front of the town Planning Board.
The hotel would be four stories high on a 13,500-square-foot footprint, and the building would resemble a Holiday Inn Express proposed in the neighboring town of Ulster, said Bruce Utter of Praetorius & Conrad P.C., a Saugerties engineering firm handling the hotel project for Saugerties NY Development.
It would be built behind the Sunoco gas station on state Route 32, and access would be from Old Route 32, Utter said. He said the hotel would be of steel and concrete construction.
The project also calls for two “pad sites” measuring 4,000 and 5,000 square feet on which restaurants could be built.
“The first phase is the hotel,” Utter said. “The second and third phase will be the other buildings when someone wants to come in.”
The proposed hotel site’s close proximity to the Wynkoop House, a historic 1700s structure, has the Planning Board concerned about the hotel’s exterior appearance, prompting the developer to come up with some new visual renderings, Utter said.
He said the hotel would use town water and sewer service.
Planning Board Chairman Howard Post said he so far is impressed with the developer’s work on the project.
“They’re certainly dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s,” he said. “They did a fantastic presentation and proper legwork….”
But Post said that given the project’s proximity to the historic house and its location in the town’s Gateway District, the board wants to ensure the hotel has proper screening.
Post also said he’d like parking to be behind the building, not in front of it, as called for in the current plan.
“We like it be as nice as possible, presentable and keeping with the area as well,” he said.
The Holiday Inn Express would be near two existing hotels adjacent to the southbound Thruway interchange, but Post said the town could use more lodging.
Utter said Praetorius & Conrad also is working on the 80-unit apartment complex proposed by developer Farmhouse Commons, LLC.
He said the project, which would be on Route 32 between Stephen and Cafaldo drives, south of Glasco, would have eight two-story wooden buildings, each with eight to 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
All the apartments would be rented at the market rate, Utter said.
He said the project is in the preliminary stage, but the approval process could move quickly because the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process already was done for a previous proposal for 40 townhouses on the site. That project was scrapped.
“We did the SEQRA process before; now we’re reforming the existing SEQRA,” Utter said. “The archeology [work] was already done for the previous project and doesn’t have to redone.”
The apartment complex would have 140 parking spots and would use public water and sewer service, he said.
Post said a traffic study is needed for the proposal.
Utter said with both projects being in early stages, he couldn’t offer cost estimate for either. He did say, though, that work could start as early as next spring.
