Motel on prime corner in Saratoga Springs for sale

The Saratoga Downtowner Motel is listed for sale, a year and a half after the owners were given the OK to tear it down and build a new, modern hotel in its place.

The 1962 motel is listed at $3.8 million through Pyramid Brokerage.

The listing touts the 42-room motel with an indoor swimming pool, but its real value is the land — the two-story motel is situated on prime real estate at the corner of Broadway and Division Street.

“It’s a great location,” said Dawn Oesch, president of the Downtown Business Association.

Owner Mary Cae Asay declined comment on the listing.

The Asays, who live locally and run the motel, got approval from the city’s Design Review Commission in June 2007 to tear down the current motel and build a five-story structure in its place called Arlington Inn & Spa, with retail and a restaurant on the first floor.

“These people have really put their heart and soul into that building with the best intentions,” said Pat Kane, chairman of the Design Review Commission.

The Asays proposed a “green” building for the site at the time, Kane said.

They hired the Jones Ferradino law firm to represent them in the planning process, local architect Tom Frost and Collins and Scoville Architects to design the building, and the LA Group of Saratoga Springs to oversee the land planning.

The plan would have required significant investment. The family bought the building in 2000 for $1.47 million from former owner Eugene Collins.

City principal planner Jaclyn Hakes said the Asays also would have needed a Planning Board site plan approval to build a new structure, which it appears they did not get.

Three years ago in a more favorable real estate market, the motel was said to be eyed for development before the hotel plan was unveiled, and an asking price of over $5 million was rumored.

But the market is different now.

In the current economy, Keith Ferrara, chief operations officer of Bonacio Construction, said his company has enough work with its current projects and isn’t interested in buying the property.

“It’s a nice piece of property on the corner, but it’s not something that we are interested in right now.”

A buyer that wanted to build something new on the site would either need DRC approval or Zoning Board of Appeals or Planning Board approval to build something else there, depending on the type of building proposed, Kane said.

The downtown zoning encourages buildings that meet the sidewalk, rather than being set back from the street with a parking lot in front like the Downtowner has, he said.

“A building like that will make the downtown feel a lot different because of its movement to the front street,” Kane said.

He recalled how Collins, the previous owner, wanted to develop the motel into a modern hotel but funding fell through.

Categories: Uncategorized