112 Hotel Rooms To Become 112 Apartments

A long-planned transformation of a Long Wharf extended-stay hotel into apartments has cleared a key regulatory hurdle — as city commissioners voted Wednesday night to approve a site plan for converting 112 hotel rooms into residential units.

The City Plan Commission voted Wednesday night unanimously in favor of the redevelopment at 3 Long Wharf Dr., where a cluster of 14 hotel buildings currently operate under the Village Suites brand. Brooklyn-based landlord Ahron Rudich purchased the property in 2024 for $15 million from local landlord Juan Salas-Romer. With prior zoning amendments in place to allow for residential use, Rudich is now proceeding with plans to formally convert the hotel into a multifamily complex.

The approved site plan will repurpose all 112 hotel rooms into dwelling units — a mix of studios and two-bedroom apartments — with six units set aside at below-market rents under the city’s inclusionary zoning rules. The proposal also includes infrastructure improvements, such as replacing up to 400 feet of sidewalk along Hallock Avenue, adding bike racks and indoor bike storage, and maintaining on-site accessible parking.

Of the 112 units, 48 will be two-bedrooms, with the remainder mostly studios. Four studios and one two-bedroom will serve as affordable housing units, and one studio will be ADA-compliant. Five enclosed bike storage lockers (each accommodating six bicycles) will be installed across the site, exceeding the minimum requirement. The applicant will also install eight racks holding three bicycles each under outdoor stairwells.

During the meeting, Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand raised concerns about the site’s walkability and lack of access to Hallock Avenue. He asked whether residents would be able to exit the rear of the property on foot or by bike, noting that the current layout requires navigating busy roads and surface lots to reach nearby destinations.

“If I lived there, I’d love to have more points of access to the site, especially if I’m biking or walking,” Marchand said. ​“Wouldn’t it be convenient if you were heading over that way to be able to leave the backside of the site?”

Andrew Rizzo, representing the development team alongside civil engineer Richard Fontaine, acknowledged that the site is currently fenced in along Hallock Avenue but said that adding a rear gate for pedestrians could be feasible. ​“That’s about the best spot if I was going to put a gate,” Rizzo said, referencing the western side of the site. ​“I’ll bring that to the owners.”

Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe, who lives in the Hill neighborhood, said the applicant had already been in contact with Alder Carmen Rodriguez and the local management team, and that the plan has community support. She agreed that adding rear pedestrian access could strengthen community integration and said it should remain an open conversation.

“These individuals here will actually be part of the community,” Radcliffe said of future tenants. ​“To have this area more open to the community would actually make it more a part of the community, as opposed to a gated area that still resembles a hotel.”

The vote marks another milestone in the site’s transition. Salas-Romer’s company had operated the extended-stay hotel since 2016 and secured zoning approvals in 2022 to convert it into apartments. He previously told the Independent the decision to sell was driven by ​“just economics” and said he was glad to pass the property to a buyer committed to redevelopment.

With the City Plan Commission’s approval now in hand, the property is set to become multifamily housing — adding over 100 apartments, including affordable and ADA-accessible units, to the Long Wharf area in the coming months.