Oceanfront hotel plan OK’d by city planners

By unanimous vote, the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission approved the site plan for the One Rehoboth Avenue Hotel project Jan. 24.

The proposed 60-room hotel stretches the width of the block from Rehoboth Avenue to Baltimore Avenue and fronts the Boardwalk. It was first brought to the planning commission in late 2022. The property includes Grotto Pizza on the Boardwalk, the Sirocco Hotel, the former Dolle’s Candyland property and Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard. As approved, it’s a four-story structure, not including an underground parking garage. There will be retail/restaurant space at ground level on the Boardwalk, while the hotel is planned for the top three floors. There’s a pool included that would be located in the middle of the property, immediately to the east of the Thrasher’s French Fries building. Including everything except the underground parking, the total floor area for the 42-foot-tall building is 57,705 square feet. There is one loading berth and 62 parking spaces provided.

Vince Robertson, the attorney representing One Rehoboth Avenue LLC, said this is a good project for one of the iconic corners in Rehoboth Beach, and it will be good for the whole community. He said it’s currently a hodgepodge of buildings that have passed their useful life.

There was a lengthy delay while the development group, a partnership between Grotto Pizza and Pennsylvania-based real estate developer Onix Group, waited for a revision to the federal flood map that was needed for the underground parking. The city’s board of adjustment approved a variance request in April 2023 that allows the proposed hotel to have a floor-to-area ratio of 2.76 instead of the code-mandated 2.

The commissioners’ main issue was the entrance to the hotel on Baltimore Avenue. The entrance meets code requirements, but there’s not a lot of extra space because of how big the city’s new beach patrol/comfort station will be. As part of that construction process, the city commandeered about 60 feet at the beach end of the street to accommodate the new structure.

The city created the issue with entrance, said Commissioner Michael Strange.

Prior to his favorable vote, Commissioner John Dewey said it’s been more than 60 years since the existing buildings were quickly built in the aftermath of the Storm of ‘62. Those families and businesses did what they could to reopen as quickly as possible, but it’s time for a change, he said.

There was only one person who spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting – Ernie Felici, the chief operating officer for Beacon Hospitality, which owns The Admiral on Baltimore directly west of the hotel construction site. He didn’t have any real concerns, he said he just wanted a copy of the geotechnical report conducted by the development team’s consultant so he and his team could take a look at it.

Robertson said that wasn’t a problem, adding that it was part of the record prepared for the public hearing.

Following the hearing, Jeff Gosnear, Grotto Pizza president, said the company is excited to move forward with the project. The hotel will be a great addition to the town, he said.

Now, the project moves into the next phase of development, with the hope of beginning construction in the fall, said Gosnear.

The hotel development team isn’t quite done with the planning commission yet. City code requires all the lots to be consolidated before construction can begin.

Robertson had submitted the documentation to the city, but it wasn’t on the agenda for the Jan. 24 meeting. The expectation is that the lot consolidation will take place during the planning commission’s meeting Friday, Feb. 28.

Lot partition approved

The planning commission also approved a lot partitioning at 87 Henlopen Ave.

The property is actually three 50-by-91-foot lots – 85, 87 and 89 Henlopen Ave. – for a total lot size 150 feet wide by 91 feet deep, which is 13,650 square feet. As approved, the lot will be partitioned into two equal-sized lots – 75 feet by 91 feet – for a total of 6,825 square feet each. City code requires newly partitioned lots to be able to contain a 4,000-square-foot rectangle within the boundary of the lots. The two new lots are able to do that.

There were questions about what trees will be removed from the property when it’s redeveloped, but since no future building plans have been submitted, those questions were left to be answered at a future date.

Planning commissioners recognized the partitioning means the loss of an old beach house on Henlopen Avenue, but they said they appreciated that the homeowner was making an effort to salvage the reusable old materials.