Developer obtains financing for Connellsville hotel
The developer of a proposed Cobblestone Hotel and Suites in Connellsville has obtained financing to build the hotel.
Hotel D2 Services Group of Pittsburgh, the developer, secured construction financing and is preparing to request zoning variances for the 54-room hotel on North First Street from the city zoning hearing board on Feb. 10.
“We’re pretty excited,” said Tom Rosselot, Hotel D2 president. “I’m looking forward to being business partner in the Connellsville community.”
If the variances are approved, Hotel D2 would seek approval from the planning commission and then a construction permit from from the Fayette County uniform construction code office.
Approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is needed because the hotel site is in a flood zone and is in proximity to the Youghiogheny River, said Tom Currey, the city’s health, code and zoning officer. The DEP will also look at the amount of land that would be disturbed, he said.
Connellsville City Council has approved D2’s parking plan and sewage module.
The parking plan calls for the city lease a lot across the street from the hotel to D2 for $1. D2 would install lighting in the lot, which would also be used by people using the nearby Great Allegheny Passage.
The $4.5-million hotel would be built on the site of the vacant Connellsville Bottling plant, which would have to be demolished.
Demolition and site clearance should be completed by mid-March, Rosselot said.
“That’s really is the last hurdle to go ahead and commence construction,” Rosselot said.
If everything goes as planned, the hotel will be open by mid-September, he said.
Cobblestone Hotels, which is based in Wisconsin, opened it’s first hotel in 2008 and has 52 in the country with more under construction or development.