Owners of the Edgar Hotel are looking to convert a large, unoccupied residential house on Edgartown’s Upper Main street into a 19-room inn, according to plans submitted to the town planning board and Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Operated as the Arbor Inn until 2016, the 11-room, 3,700-square-foot residence had been used for workforce and senior housing before becoming vacant in recent years. Because of the proposed change of use from a residential property to an inn, the project was referred to the commission by the Edgartown planning board late last year.
The property, located at 222 Upper Main street, is the first in a stretch of at least four parcels between 222 and 242 Upper Main owned by various LLCs connected to a Newton-based real estate investment firm called Boldwater Holdings, formerly known as Sawyer Realty Holdings.
David Rosenberg is listed as Boldwater’s CEO on its website.
Earlier this winter, parcels listed at 238 and 242 Main street, which include a real estate office, a former tailor shop and the Island Dairy Queen, were purchased by an entity connected to the company for $2.8 million. The 222 Upper Main street property was purchased in 2018 for $2 million.
Sawyer Realty Holdings also purchased the Clarion Inn, located across the street from 222 Upper Main, in 2018 for $8 million, renovating the hotel and rebranding it as the Edgar Hotel Martha’s Vineyard. A fourth parcel, located at 230 Upper Main, is also owned by the company, and is currently used for workforce housing, according to Ms. Rosenberg.
At an MVC subcommittee meeting Monday, attended by Boldwater vice president Jessica Rosenberg, the applicants said the converted residence at 222 Upper Main would be operated by employees of the Edgar Hotel. No food service or front desk are planned the building, which would be an annex to the hotal.
The two-phase project calls for a 2,225-square-foot, three-story addition to the house, adding six rooms to the building, and extensive interior renovations to nine other rooms. The addition would be visible from the road. Parking on the site would increase from seven spaces to 21.
The project has received approval from town wastewater commission, according to the applicants. It is in the B-2 business zoning district.
The project architect is Chuck Sullivan, and the applicants are represented by Island attorney Geoghan Coogan.
Once a largely residential pocket of Upper Main street, the area has undergone a more commercial shift in recent years as family parcels have changed hands. Heavy traffic clogs the road in the summer as it funnels into downtown Edgartown.
At the meeting Monday, commission subcommittee members and executive director Adam Turner asked applicants about the broader development plans for other Main Street holdings.
“The applicant owns quite a few properties on this road. Are you going to open a bunch of inns?” Mr. Turner asked.
“No, there’s other immediate plans for popping up a number of inns, if that’s the question,” Mr. Coogan said.
Last month the commission denied a proposed expansion plan for the boutique Hob Knob Inn on Main street, amid concerns about spreading commercial development in a residential area. Unlike that project, the Edgar Hotel is in a commercial district.
Other planning concerns raised at the meeting included access for emergency vehicles on the site and affordable housing mitigation.
The project would eliminate 12 to 13 rooms formerly used for senior and workforce housing, according to commission staff analysis.
“That’s a very big thing that needs to be addressed,” commissioner Fred Hancock said Monday.
Traffic planner Mike Mauro recommended that the applicant did not need to hire an outside traffic consultant, and that the commission could conduct its own analysis of the project.
A public hearing date has not been set for the development.
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