Site Plan Application
A rendering of the proposed Marriott Residence Inn.
Thomas Breen file photo
Alder Douglass: “I’d prefer affordable housing.”
An abandoned laundromat, vacant healthcare building, and pair of surface parking lots on Park Street could turn into a 150-room Marriott Residence Inn.
A Pennsylvania-based developer has submitted a site plan application for such a hotel to the City Plan Commission, as first reported by the New Haven Register.
The hotel is slated for five adjacent lots on the west side of Park Street between Crown and George — specifically for 421 George St., 134 and 130 Park St., and 370 and 374 Crown St., which currently comprise two parking lots, a former medical office building, and the former Bubble and Squeak laundromat.
The Penn Real Estate Group purchased those properties back in late 2019 and early 2020 and is now moving forward with plans to demolish the existing buildings there in order to build a hotel.
According to the site plan application, the Marriott Residence Inn would be six stories tall and contain 150 rooms.
A ground-floor restaurant would be open to the public, as well as the hotel lobby itself. Guest amenities would include a “hearth room,” rear patio, fitness room, game room, and pair of meeting rooms.
The building would replace 60 parking spots across the two existing surface lots, but it would incorporate a ground-floor parking garage containing 31 parking spaces (two of which would be accessible).
According to the application, the Penn Real Estate Group has developed and continued to manage four other hotels outside of Philadelphia, and the company plans to run the New Haven Marriott once it is developed. The group envisions that the Marriott would be a “mid-market hotel in terms of price,” one that would offer free breakfast to guests.
The application states that the hotel is “intended to provide accommodations for families, those receiving treatment at Yale-New Haven hospital or visiting patients, traveling nurses, and families whose homes are being renovated due to events such as flooding, fire, etc., and other visitors to New Haven.”
A representative of the Penn Real Estate Group declined to comment for this story.
Dwight Alder Frank Douglass, who represents the ward encompassing the properties in question, expressed skepticism about whether the hotel would benefit the neighborhood.
“I’m really not that pleased with them building a hotel over there. I’d prefer affordable housing,” he said. “My concern too is also the jobs piece: what are they gonna be offering people in terms of jobs? Are they gonna be taking people from the neighborhood to employ?”
There are no special permits or exceptions required for the development. The City Plan Commission is slated to review the associated site plans at an upcoming meeting on June 18.