On Wednesday, the Zoning Board of Appeals accepted an application for a use variance for 601 Union Street, the Italian villa at the south end of Sixth Street that was constructed between 1845 and 1847 as a private residence and was for decades, from 1936 to 2003, the Hudson Elks Lodge.
What is being proposed is converting the building into a boutique hotel with no more than thirty guest rooms. A variance is needed because the building is located in an area that is zoned R-3 (Residential), and a hotel is not a permitted use. Attorney Andy Howard, who represented the applicants at the ZBA meeting, argued that the building has not been used as a residence since 1936, and the city's Central Commercial District is just across the street. He called the building special and unique and told the ZBA the applicants wanted to create "an upscale, respectful boutique hotel that would honor the legacy of the building." (The building was constructed from a design by Richard Upjohn that appears in A. J. Downing's 1850 book, The Architecture of Country Houses.) Howard maintained that converting the building into apartments would not be economically feasible.
The issue of parking, which has been a concern of the Planning Board in its review of recent hotel projects, will not be a problem for this hotel. The building is situated on 4.1 acres of land, and there is ample space for guest parking on site.
The ZBA will hold a public hearing on the application on Wednesday, March 16, at 6:00 p.m.
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Count on it - Parking on street will still be an issue, as well as traffic concerns, particlarly entering and exiting their lot. Not a good location for a hotel at all.
ReplyDeletebb,
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you are talking about. Go over and walk that property-- there is a substantial amount of off-street parking. WTF???
Beautiful building, it will make a wonderful hotel. Plenty of parking there as well, not a problem. Funny how the city eliminated parking requirements for rental units in houses, but the same people who supported that suddenly have parking concerns for a hotel with off street parking on it's grounds.
ReplyDeletethis afternoon, a Saturday in the dead nearly of winter, I saw 3 available spaces in the city parking lot next door to 601. 6 of the 8 metered spaces from 6th to 7th were occuppied. There is only parking on one side of Union, and it isn't the hotel's side! Where are the drop-off pick-up locations? The precise issue that our hpd chief says is a problem all over town. It's okay, though, he's on it. I will stop worrying, we are in good hands. You are right Mr Peter. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteB Huston
Like the Pocketbook Factory, 601 Union is a behemoth in a residential area and of no practical use (too big, too old) to anyone. Except as a HOTEL, OF COURSE! Grant them the variance they need for yet another hotel in town because there's nothing else anyone can do with it!
ReplyDeleteThis is prudent "planning?"
Did anyone ask Andy Howard to explain how making 601 into an economically feasible hotel (with rooms of all sorts) is possible but apartments in there are not economically feasible? That seems illogical. Who told him that? His client?
BHuston