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Date: 8/29/2023
NORTHAMPTON — A new 109-room extended stay hotel and a three-story residential building is planned on the site where the old Daily Hampshire Gazette building used to be.
Hotel Northampton owner Mansour Ghalibaf is seeking a major site plan approval and a special permit from the Planning Board for the hotel at 115 Conz St. next to the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hotel. Ghalibaf also owns that Fairfield Inn under his LLC, Rankin Holdings.
According to Jeff Squire, the principal landscape architect from Berkshire Design Group, the new hotel will be four stories and roughly 18,000 square feet in total. According to the site plans, a 700-square-foot meeting space will be located on the hotel’s lower floor.
Ghalibaf bought the former 46,000-square-foot Gazette building back in June 2022 for $3 million. The building was demolished earlier this spring.
Background
The hotel plans originally went in front of the Northampton City Council back in the winter. At that time, Ghalibaf was seeking a tax break for the hotel through a process known as Tax Increment Financing.
According to the proposal at the time, a TIF reduces the incremental increase in property tax revenues generated by a redeveloped and improved property, reducing some of the project’s costs to make the project financially feasible.
City officials back in February estimated that the city would receive $3.4 million in tax revenue when the project is complete because of a tax break, while 50 new jobs would be added and consumer user spending would increase by $4.5 million.
“This will be a very significant redevelopment of that lot and that area, which will very greatly increase the value of the property, and therefore the taxes to the General Fund,” said Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra at the time. “And it will also add to our hotel/motel excise, and there is a restaurant, to our meals tax.”
Ghalibaf eventually withdrew his request for the City Council to accept the TIF.
Current plans plus Planning Board
The hotel plans initially included the construction of retail/restaurant buildings, but those plans were eventually scrapped and now the blueprint includes a 13,800-square-foot, three-story residential building in front of the proposed hotel and closer to Conz Street.
“The residential building has 31 units,” Squire said during a Planning Board public hearing on Aug. 24.
The type of housing in the building will be “market rate” condominium housing according to the planners of the project, and each condo will have one or two bedrooms.
Squire told the board that the project is expected to be completed in phases, and when completed, the hotel would increase the city’s hotel inventory from 331 rooms to 440.
After going through specific blueprint plans, the Planning Board decided to continue the public hearing for the hotel and residential building for 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 14 with the idea that a timeline for the project will be discussed and fleshed out.
27 Crafts Ave.
The Planning Board also approved a major site plan for a six-story building with 30 units for affordable housing immediately behind City Hall.
The project, which is being developed by Valley Community Development, officially began in late 2022 when Valley CDC responded to a request for proposals issued by the city to develop the location for affordable housing.
Valley was selected to be the developer for the project, which includes 30 studios for single adults/couples. Twenty of them are being developed for unhoused or “very low-income” individuals while 10 will be reserved for low-to-moderate-income tenants. Five will be handicap accessible.
Earlier this month, Valley CDC Real Estate Project Manager Bill Womeldorf told Reminder Publishing that Crafts is an ideal location for this project.
“Crafts is the ideal location because it lends itself to a high degree of walkability, but it also provides our residents a choice of mobility,” he said, of the location.
Womeldorf added that residents can use the local or regional bus stations, which are a “stone’s throw” away, as well as the bike paths in the nearby area.
“The location allows access to nearby workspaces, amenities and other services that you wouldn’t get if you were away from downtown,” he said. “A lot of our residents don’t own a car, so having that walkability and choice of mobility is a key aspect of what we look for in these types of housing projects.”
The new housing will include certain amenities like a day room on the ground floor as well as a property management office and other offices for services. There will also be a part-time residents services coordinator and a part-time property manager on-site, along with internal bike storage and a roof deck on one of the upper stories.
The city received a $970,000 grant to fund the design portion of this project, and according to Womeldorf, the building will not use fossil fuels.
While Valley CDC is still grappling with the cost of construction, Womeldorf added that construction is planned to start at some point in 2026.
Valley CDC is working with Jones Whitsett Architects on the project, and as of press time, the team has developed a design development set. The next step, according to Womeldorf, is applying for a zoning permit at the end of this month before embarking on a future set of plans.
“I applaud the city for taking this on,” Planning Board Chair George Kohout said. “It’s going to be a big change to [City Hall’s] operations, which won’t be easy, but I think they’re putting money where their mouth is and putting affordable housing right here in our backyard.”