Block Island is tiny, but it offers a wide array of accommodations, including several large hotels as well as inns and B&Bs. And right across from the Block Island Ferry, in Galilee, tourists have another option, the Lighthouse Inn.
Westerly has several hotels, and Aquidneck Island is full of them. But in the heart of South County, the choices are limited, especially if you want a full-service facility.
Now South Kingstown, whose zoning tightly restricts hotel construction, has two proposals on the table that would add 100 and 128 rooms, respectively, at hotels within a stone’s throw of each other on Route 1, near the Washington County courthouse.
It’s not prime tourist country – there’s not a beach in sight – but either property would be just a short drive away from the ocean and from the University of Rhode Island. The question town officials are asking is how big a demand is there for these hotels?
Alex Petrucci, who spearheaded the creation of South County Commons and wants to add a 100-room, limited-use hotel to the complex, has presented market research to the town showing the market is strong enough to support his project – but nothing bigger.
Developer John Haddad, however, whose 128-room hotel proposal also includes 55 condominiums on the top floor – in addition to a 142-unit condo complex on adjacent land – believes the market can support a full-service hotel and meeting center.
Haddad has only submitted conceptual plans so far, and Town Planner Vincent Murray said they’d have no bearing on an ongoing review of Petrucci’s proposal. But given the proximity, the two are widely viewed as competing, and probably mutually exclusive.
David C. DePetrillo, director of tourism at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, sees it differently: Not only could the market support Haddad’s project, he said, but it could support both proposed hotels on Route 1, and a “boutique” hotel under discussion for the University of Rhode Island as well.
“With the growth of tourism in Rhode Island,” he said in an interview, “there has been quite a demand that’s been created for different categories of hotel rooms.”
Aside from the Holiday Inn and a handful of other properties, DePetrillo added, most of the lodgings in the area are only available seasonally. But URI, which creates plenty of demand for rooms, is busiest in the “off-season,” and as Rhode Island has become a hotter destination, a strong “shoulder” season has also developed, he said.
“The season has definitely extended itself into the spring and fall,” DePetrillo said. “There’s a lot of business that the bed and breakfasts are seeing.”
Any new hotel development in South Kingstown would also attract some business travelers and others willing to use it as a base of operations, DePetrillo said.
“South County still has the strategic location that it can benefit from nearby areas that are creating demand as well,” he said. Plus “there’s a lot of group business that drives by on Route 95. New England is a very popular destination for group travelers.”
The question of South Kingstown’s own wishes, however, is harder to answer. To prevent large-scale hotel development, the town’s zoning ordinance limits properties to 100 rooms and 50,000 square feet and sets strict guidelines on parking, lot size, etc. Petrucci’s site is now zoned for commercial and light industrial use, so that’s his biggest hurdle, but at 49,864 square feet plus a 3,556-square-foot pool and spa wing, his proposed Hampton Inn would also push the hotel size limits.
Yet town officials’ biggest criticism of Petrucci’s plan has been that it’s too modest, with only a small “breakfast area,” not a restaurant, and one 962-square-foot meeting room.
“I think there is a general recognition in South Kingstown that we are probably underserved in hotels,” said Murray, the town planner. “But what we do want in terms of a facility? … We want a high-quality facility, and there’s a hope that (it) could provide meeting space and perhaps function space, because there is a lack of that as well.”
Haddad’s proposed Lion Head Inn & Resorts would come closer to achieving that goal, with a bar and restaurant and more meeting rooms. But the catch is, to build his hotel, Haddad would require far more extensive zoning concessions than Petrucci. Without the details, Murray isn’t ready to pass judgment on that plan, but he acknowledged that large-scale development isn’t necessarily suited to the locals’ “particular tastes and wants.”
“This is a small town,” Murray said. “We want good quality development that’s appropriately scaled to the community, that won’t be burdensome to roads and services. … We want it to work well for the landowners, but also for the community at large. That kind of balance is worth waiting for, if need be.”
