The plans to redevelop Longfellows restaurant on Union Avenue and plans to expand the Homewood Suites on South Broadway, both in Saratoga Springs, advanced, if incrementally, at the Saratoga Springs Planning Board meeting Thursday night, March 9.
Longfellows
(Credit: Image Steve Thurston, Design Balzer Tuck Architects, 2023)
One image of the Longfellows Redevelopment shows the raised walkway .
The redevelopment of Longfellows, the iconic hotel and restaurant at 500 Union Avenue near Lake Lonely in Saratoga Springs, includes “a trade” of hotel space for restaurant space, according to officials presenting the changes to the Saratoga Springs Planning Board.
The plan would add 38 hotel rooms — 88 in total — and decrease the footprint of the current restaurant and conference center on the property. Overall, the footprint would increase about 500 square feet, said Libbry Coreno, the lawyer representing the development team.
The design includes a raised walkway connecting two buildings on the property.
As well, the project includes a pool and deck area, a portion of which will be over the 100-foot wetlands setback line. However, Coreno said that the location of the pool “disturbs” a location that was already disturbed since the development at the site predated the wetland setback and previous work used some of the space beyond the 100-foot line.
The project received one email from the president of the Lake Lonely Improvement Association asking that planning consider the effects on Lake Lonely. One couple in attendance said they were neighbors of the project and only came to the board meeting to see what was happening, but did not have problems with the changes.
The next time the project comes before the board, likely in April, the board will have comments and opinions from the County's planning department, the city’s engineer, the fire department and, at the request of the board, comments from the city's design review board.
“It’s a gateway to the city,” Planning Board Chair Mark Torpey said referring to the property. He added that an opinion from the city's Design Review Board “would be helpful.”
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At that point the board will take a final look at the SEQR application. This is the environmental review that makes sure all the environmental considerations have been met.
The news that the property was purchased came late last year.
Homewood Suites
The Homewood Suites, near the Saratoga Spa State Park, is looking to add about 3,000 square feet, or 17 new rooms to the southeast corner of their building. The hotel is a long-term stay location with an average stay of 45 days now, although the average stay was about 100 days prepandemic, said Matt Brobston of the LA Group architectural firm who is working on the project.
The plan would remove sports courts that are on the property now since people do not really use them (the hotel has a pool and weight room) and use that space for the expansion, landscaping and sidewalks.
The changes would bring the total rooms to 129 and parking spaces to 148; one of those spaces is gained by restriping the lot, and the other two are new and will be paved with porous material.
The height of the building and the facade would match the rest of the four-storey building.
The city’s planning board is waiting to hear from the Saratoga County Planning Department before final approval to the plan, though the board indicated that they are OK with what they have seen.