November 12, 2024

Hotel MUP, and start, within reach at Swedish Cherry Hill

Rendering via Synergy [enlarge]

Looking west across 16th, the corner has been vacant for a decade.

Totally unaffiliated with the hospital, there's been a boutique hotel plan brewing for the past eight years right next to the Swedish Cherry Hill campus. The vacant corner site, at 505 16th Ave., is actually inset within a big structured parking garage owned by Swedish. So you could be forgiven for thinking that it's hospital owned.

Instead, an Eastside investor acquired the property a dozen years ago, removed an old house, then began working on the hotel plan. Architects changed over the years, and the current design from Axis Architecture now stands at six stories, 37 rooms and no parking.

The Candlewood Suites plan drew the ire of neighborhood residents, who protested the city's SEPA determination of non-significance back in May. They appealed the DNS to the city Hearing Examiner, arguing in essence that the hotel was unfairly piggybacking its way into being via the Swedish Cherry Hill Major Institution Master Plan — under the guise of somehow being hospital-related.

And, last month, the Hearing Examiner said in essence, No, the DNS was correct. That decision moves the proposal one step closer to a master use permit — then a possible groundbreaking. The city also approved the construction management plan in October.

Synergy is still indicated as the general contractor and owner's rep. The Candlewood team also includes Lanktree Land Surveying; JGM Landscape Architects; Lund Opsahl, structural engineer; DCI Engineers, civil; Merit Engineering, geotechnical; Abossein Engineering, MEP; and Gibson Traffic Consultants.

The corner, at East Jefferson Street, offers 4,800 square feet. Total project size is estimated at 23,056 square feet.