LENOX — Last year, "New upscale hotel coming in 2018" was posted on the marquee at the demolished former Magnuson Hotel on Route 7/20 (Pittsfield Road). This year, until recently, it was revised to 2019.
Last month, it was changed to read "Closed for the season."
Now, the marquee is blank.
The hotel is one of three area hospitality projects that remain dormant as the new year approaches. Also in limbo are the Elm Court in Stockbridge, with road frontage in Lenox, and the Spring Lawn Mansion adjacent to Shakespeare & Company.
Last summer, Travaasa Experiential Resorts, the owner of Elm Court, extended its special permits from both towns until November 2020, and there are reports that Spring Lawn might be springing to life.
In a project launched by the Mahida Hospitality Group in 2015, the deteriorating Magnuson Hotel at 130 Pittsfield Road, previously branded as a Holiday Inn when it was built in the 1960s and later as a Quality Inn and Econolodge, was destined to be razed, clearing the way for a high-end, 99-room Marriott-branded hotel and a conference center. In May 2016, the Lenox Zoning Board approved a special permit for the ambitious resort project.
In November 2017, the Magnuson was purchased from owner Shivam Realty for $1,550,000 by BBL Hospitality Group, based in Albany, N.Y., one of multiple BBL divisions, including BBL Construction Services and BBL Management Group.
But, after demolition and an extensive asbestos removal completed in March 2018 at a reported cost of $400,000, the project has appeared dormant. BBL's special permit remains valid, according to Lenox Building Commissioner BJ Church, and a building permit for a foundation issued in January 2018 remains on the books as well.
The BBL Hospitality portfolio of owned or managed properties, concentrated in New York's Capital District and Saratoga Springs, includes 21 Hilton-, Hyatt- and Marriott-branded hotels, a Holiday Inn Express, 15 restaurants and two banquet facilities.
"BBL Hospitality is currently focused on other projects but has a continued strong interest in completing the Lenox project," said the company's local counsel, William E. Martin of Martin & Oliveira in Pittsfield. "The special permit remains in effect and BBL is performing some preliminary work at the property. The company plans on completing cosmetic improvements to the entry area and hopes that the project can be advanced in 2020."
Martin added that BBL is aware of neighborhood concerns about the appearance of the site and plans to take action soon to improve it.
The project originally was proposed by the Mahida family, former owners of the Hilton Garden Inn in Pittsfield. The initial plan, costing $22 million to $24 million, envisioned an Element by Marriott 100-suite extended-stay facility and a 14,400-square-foot events center called Lenox Manor, but it later was scaled back.
The Mahida group owns the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites in Great Barrington and a Days Inn motel in the town. Chrystal Mahida's 79 Bridge Street LLC plans to begin construction next spring for an 88-room hotel in the former Searles Elementary School. The revised project, approved by the Great Barrington Select Board last October, is expected to cost $17 million to $19 million.
Elm Court gets permit extensions
In Stockbridge, the long-delayed renovation and expansion of the historic Elm Court property into a 112-room hotel, restaurant and spa off Old Stockbridge Road, with frontage in Lenox, has won one-year special-permit extensions from both towns, valid as long as work begins by Nov. 10.
Nick Arienti, the local attorney for Travaasa Experiential Resort's developer, Front Yard LLC, told boards in the two towns that soaring building costs, especially for steel, and complex financing issues combined to set back the project's schedule, after the settlement of prolonged litigation initiated by neighbors.
The developers are "reluctant to commence construction without knowing they can deliver and complete that project," he informed the Stockbridge Select Board. "This is not a project that they have any interest in walking away from."
So far, $12.5 million already has been spent since the 90-acre historic 1886 estate was acquired from the Berle family for $9.8 million in mid-2012. Legal expenses, permitting, management and engineering costs and a full-time, year-round maintenance staff to retain the property's value are included in the total initial investment.
The original project cost was set at "north of $50 million," Arienti said. With his estimate of a 40 to 50 percent escalation, it is now pegged at close to $75 million.
He also noted a "hot market" for "niche resort getaway" construction in the past several years, such as Hyatt's Miraval Berkshires renovation and expansion of Cranwell in Lenox. The project is targeted for completion this May at an estimated $80 million to $90 million.
Preconstruction work at Elm Court has been ongoing for almost two years, including the hiring of a national project manager, preliminary work by Allegrone Construction, now on hold, and consultation with architects locally and nationally, Arienti said.
Since Lenox holds 3 acres of road frontage, Travaasa/Front Yard is required to improve and expand water and sewer lines along Old Stockbridge Road, an infrastructure project estimated to cost several million dollars.
"In order to deliver what they promised, they need full financing," Arienti said.
There's no new information to share on the project, Adam Hawthorne, president of Travaasa Experiential Resorts, said in an email Tuesday. Travaasa is a division of the Amstar Group — it's a real estate management investment company in Denver — where he is vice president.
Spring Lawn hotel still 'active'
The Spring Lawn boutique hotel project on Kemble Street in Lenox appears to be returning from the presumed dead. Originally proposed in 2013 by Spring Lawn Partners LLC based in Old Greenwich, Conn., the 29-acre property was targeted for a 95-room, high-end resort costing $15 million to $20 million at the time.
"We remain active, but are not ready to begin building yet," Lenox native Rob Coakley, a project partner, said in an email to The Eagle. "We hope to be ready to make an announcement in short order."
According to Town Hall sources, the special permit for the hotel remains active because of ongoing work at the 50,000-square-foot mansion, but the developers would need to return to the zoning board for updates and site plan approval.
Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com, on Twitter @BE_cfanto or at 413-637-2551.