City gives final approval to Adelphi Hotel project

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

The Adelphi Hotel renovation project has received final city approval, and two other high-profile Saratoga Springs construction projects are nearing the end of the approval process.

The Adelphi. located at 365 Broadway, got the final OK from the city Design Review Commission to build a glass-walled conservatory and an exterior stair tower and elevator at the rear of the circa-1877 building.

“They previously received approval to tear down the one-story wooden structure in the rear,” said Bradley Birge, the city’s planning and economic development administrator.

The owners, a group of investors led by Toby Milde, plan to start construction this fall. They could reopen for next summer and then stay open year-round, Guilderland-based architect Dominick Ranieri, who designed the project, has said previously.

Inside what the owners envision as a five-star hotel with Victorian flair and contemporary touches, plans include transforming the small guest rooms into 32 suites, creating a fine dining restaurant, moving the bar to the front of the lobby area, and adding sidewalk seating.

The hotel closed last fall and owners prepared for the renovation, selling unwanted furniture in a public sale in January.

At a Design Review Commission meeting July 17, proposals for a Fresh Market upscale grocery on Marion Avenue and the Congress Plaza Hotel on Congress Street received approval for exterior details. Now they just need lighting and signage approvals from the DRC and they both can begin applying for building permits.

Both projects underwent some changes as they moved through the DRC approval process, Birge said. The proposed six-story Congress Plaza Hotel was altered to make it look less imposing, while the one-story Fresh Market was elevated so it would be more visible from Route 50.

The Fresh Market is proposed as an anchor on a 4.5-acre parcel bounded by Marion and Excelsior avenues and Route 50; the mixed-use development eventually would include other buildings.

Because of the topography, the building as originally proposed would have been difficult to see from Route 50, so at the request of the DRC, the company agreed to make the building taller, Birge said.

“You wouldn’t see much except for the top of the roof,” he said. “It was also very important because of its presence along Route 50.”

For the 145-room Congress Plaza Hotel, developer DCG Development Co. of Clifton Park added more glass and architectural details on the plans for the building’s upper stories at the request of the DRC.

The hotel is planned for the site of the former Grand Union supermarket that was recently home to Broadway Joe’s Dinner and a Movie.

DCG plans to start demolition of part of the existing commercial plaza when it gets the final lighting and signage approval from the DRC. The CVS Pharmacy and the southern part of the plaza will remain.