The site for a new Hilton Garden Inn would be just north of the Dollar Tree and just south of the Christmas Loft on White Mountain Highway in North Conway. (COURTESY GRAPHIC)
A Hilton Garden Inn is proposed to be built on Route 16 in North Conway. (COURTESY OPECHEE CONSTRUCTION CORP.)
The site for a new Hilton Garden Inn would be just north of the Dollar Tree and just south of the Christmas Loft on White Mountain Highway in North Conway. (COURTESY GRAPHIC)
A Hilton Garden Inn is proposed to be built on Route 16 in North Conway. (COURTESY OPECHEE CONSTRUCTION CORP.)
CONWAY — A proposal for a four-story, 90-room hotel to be built on the North Conway Strip is set to come before the Conway Planning Board for conceptual review June 23, according to Conway Town Planning Director Jamel Torres.
According to a May 26 letter from Opechee Construction Corp.’s vice president, David Sherborne, and civil engineer Barry Stowe, proposed for the vacant lot across from the Comfort Inn & Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf is a Hilton Garden Inn.
More than a decade ago, that site was home to the Richard Packer Art Gallery.
Opechee is also the company that is building a the Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott at Cranmore.
The 2.4-acre lot is sandwiched between the plaza that holds Sea Dog Brewing Company to the south and the Christmas Loft to the north.
According to town assessing records, the property was sold in 2004 for $331,000 by Richard and Barbara Packer's daughter Gail Davidson and husband, Rich Davidson, to UTSAV Real Estate LLC, care of J. Patel, which then sold it for $325,000 to Jivan LLC in 2017.
At 44.89 feet high, it meets Conway regulations in the Highway Commercial District, which limits structure height to 55 feet and building height to 45 feet.
It abuts the Conway Scenic Railroad tracks to the west and White Mountain Highway to the east.
According to Torres and selectmen’s planning board representative Steve Porter, the purpose of conceptual review is to provide a forum for suggestions and input.
“The nice thing about conceptual review is they can come in and take suggestions under advisement versus site-plan review, when everything is all planned and mapped out. It makes things simpler moving forward,” said Porter, who noted that the site was once approved for a hotel probably about a decade ago but those plans never materialized. “It will be interesting to see how the proposal has changed,” said Porter Wednesday.
The hotel will include a pool, outdoor patio, fitness room, meeting room and food/beverage service. The letter from Opechee notes that Hilton Garden Inn is an upscale brand and that the hotel will be the most northerly HGI in New Hampshire. Other locations include Manchester, Portsmouth and Lebanon.
The application is signed by Dipak Patel of Jivan, LLC, which is also involved with other lodging properties in North Conway including the Quality Inn in North Conway, according to Earle Wason of Wason Hospitality Associates of Portsmouth.
According to Opechee’s letter to the planning board, the developers — at the request of Town Engineer Paul DegliAngeli — propose putting the driveway at the property line with the Red Barn Shopping Plaza, where Sea Dog, Dollar Tree, Domino’s and other businesses are located.
The letter noted “it’s necessary to site the building on the ‘level pad’ in the front of the parcel before the steep slopes and just inside the zoning setbacks.
“This is beneficial as the entire parking lot will be situated behind the building out of view from the public. Because the building spans along the entire buildable area along the street frontage, access to the parking lot will be provided by a 16-foot-high building drive-thru that passes beneath the third and fourth floors of the building, providing visual interest to the building entry.”
They say the plan would be consistent with the town’s zoning ordinance, which seeks “not to restrict innovation or variety in the new construction or renovation of commercial buildings and related property, but rather to encourage continued economic development, conserve property values, and further enhance the visual appearance of the community.”
The driveway and perimeter drive aisle will allow for manuevering by a 45-foot motorcoach bus and would accommodate other larger vehicles such as delivery, garbage and fire trucks, the developers said.
“Because of the existing steep slopes, considerable fill and retaining walls will be utilized to transform the site into a functional parking area,” they said. A total 107 parking spaces are proposed — the hotel, they say, is required to provide 99 spaces at 1.1 spaces per room.
They note that this “quantity of spaces is sufficient for the hotel patrons and employees. Peak parking demand for hotel patrons occurs at night into the early morning and the largest employee shift occurs midday between checkout and check-in.”
Related to food service, they write that such a guest amenity will not be advertised as a public restaurant, but the public will be allowed to dine there if they desire.
The design will feature articulated exterior building facades to reduce areas of large unbroken horizontal and vertical planes by using projections and recesses along each building elevation.
The exterior building cladding materials will consist of clapboard siding, standing seam metal roofing, stone veneer, metal paneling and trim that varies in style and color.
Given the building width and impact of the site topography on building height, the proposal is to employ the zoning ordinance’’s architecture design standard — “where pitched roofs are not practical, the use of false building fronts shall be used to imitate pitched roofs to vary the horizontal lines along portions of the facade to create the appearance of multiple attached buildings.”
The window areas on exterior walls exceed the minimum 5 percent required.
Also on the agenda for the June 23 planning board meeting set to start at 6 p.m. at Conway Town Hall is the start of site-plan/subdivision review of the massive Kennett Company/Continuum project that will include subdividing 126.47 acres into four lots.
That multi-use project will feature a bank, a day-care center, a medical center, an assisted care/services building, 87 dwelling units in various configurations, as well as 148 condominiums in two buildings, a 2,500-square-foot community building and a 225-unit subdivision along Eagles Way and Eastman Road.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Click Below To Read Today's Replica Edition!
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Would you like to receive a link to the Conway Daily Sun online eEdition and preview the top stories? Signup today!
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Get the latest news first, with up to the minute coverage of local events. Signup Today!
Would you like to receive a link to the Berlin Sun online eEdition and preview the top stories? Signup today!
Get the latest news first, with up to the minute coverage of local events. Signup Today!
Would you like to receive a link to the Conway Daily Sun online eEdition and preview the top stories? Signup today!
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.