Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOTs) more than doubled in last year’s municipal budget, eclipsing $2 million after three new projects were added to the tax rolls. The spending plan for 2017 anticipates $1.3 million after the expiration of one five-year PILOT.
Tag Archives: motels
R.I.P. Kings Inn tower, hello Super 8
In case you missed it, the infamous tower at the former Kings Inn motel is no more, having been demolished last month. The hotel itself is no longer a Kings Inn but a newly renovated Super 8, one of more than a dozen brands within Wyndham.
Continue reading R.I.P. Kings Inn tower, hello Super 8
Plan is to demolish tower at Kings Inn
The not-so-iconic tower at the Kings Inn motel on Routes 1&9 will have to live on via the Internet — its claim to fame found in this video for a once-popular 1990s hip hop song — because its days are numbered.
Improvements spotted at Kings Inn
It looks like some long-awaited improvements got under way this month at the Kings Inn Motel that ultimately will turn it into a Super 8.
It’s been almost a year since the Redevelopment Agency reassigned the redevelopment agreement on the site along Route 1&9. The plan at that time was to turn the building into a Motel 6 but is now back to a Super 8.
Director of Community Development Cynthia Solomon confirmed that the permits have all been approved but no word on a timeline for completion.
A Howard Johnson had been planned to replace the Kings Inn two years ago before that plan fell through and at one point there was a proposal for an addition as a Super 8. (Thanks to all the eagle-eyed readers who tipped me off to the activity at the Kings Inn site.)
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A story in NJ Biz last month detailed how a Newark nonprofit uses GPS-based bar code system to allow staff, and the public, to send alerts on damaged downtown improvements. It also can “help users locate parking garages, stores, restaurants and parks in the area.”
Sale of Kings Inn falls through
Plans to sell the Kings Inn apparently fell through, and with it, plans to renovate the two-story motel this spring.
HoJo likely to replace Kings Inn
The Kings Inn motel likely will become a Howard Johnson, not a Super 8, with renovations to begin in February at the earliest and last six months. Both are brands of Wyndham Hotels and developers currently are in negotiations but expect HoJo might have more recognition in this area.
Several residents of the adjacent Riverwalk townhouse development appeared before the Planning Board last Tuesday night to question the application and remedy concerns about illicit activity at the site.
Principals of Ratan Rahway, the developer, promised that the new hotel will not 
accept Section 8 (welfare) housing, as is the case with the Kings Inn. As a franchise, the hotel would be expected twice a year to continue to operate under one of the Wyndham brands.
Plans are to renovate the existing rooms, along with turning the tower in a two-story structure. They expect to invest $800,000 to $900,000 in renovations. While the original two-story structure will not be razed, developers said they plan to have a new facade, roof and all new furniture and amenities in each room, along with eliminating the existing floor-to-ceiling windows, which was a concern for some residents. New fencing also will be erected between the hotel site and adjacent townhouse development.
The property (1360 Route 1/Block 304, Lots 5-6) last changed hands in 2004, when it was purchased for about $1.1 million from LTL Hotel Corp. by The Rahway Tower, LLC, according to PropertyShark.com.
Sleep Inn out, Candlewood Suites in
A long-planned hotel near the corner of Route 1 and East Milton Avenue looks like it will go through another round of changes.
The 4.4-acre site (667 E. Milton Ave./Block 338, Lot 3) already was approved for a Sleep Inn several years ago but the property changed hands earlier this year and now the plan is to bring in Candlewood Suites, an extended stay brand of Holiday Inn. The Redevelopment Agency was presented with the new concept earlier this month and owners are expected to file an application with the Planning Board as soon as possible.
The site was acquired several months ago for $2.35 million. Owners hope to break ground as soon as next spring, with construction anticipated for 10 to 12 months, taking it into the spring of 2010.
Plans still show an L-shaped building at the corner of Lennington Street with the same footprint, but the structure is four stories instead of three, with a maximum of 93 rooms. The mix of studios and one-bedrooms can be modified, such as combining two studios to create a one-bedroom.
An indoor pool and convenience store also were added to the original design, which had 72 rooms in three stories. Extended stay units also have kitchens and most clients stay an average of two to three weeks. A 8,000-square-foot restaurant is still planned but is not dependent on the hotel construction, and vice versa. The restaurant would abut the neighboring Best Western on Paterson Street with its parking lot at the corner of East Milton and Paterson Street.
The hotel site would have 90 parking spaces while the restaurant site would accommodate 42, for a total of 132. By city ordinance, an 8,000-square-foot restaurant requires one parking space for every three seats, which would meet the requirement for a 120-seat facility (40 seats).
The owners also operate the Horizon Inn on Route 1 in Avenel and told the Redevelopment Agency they already have approval for $7 million financing from Unity Bank. They would have a 10-year agreement with Candlewood which would be renewed based on performance.
Addition nixed at Kings Inn
The Kings Inn motel on Routes 1/9 south will eventually be renovated to become a Super 8 but the addition has been yanked from the drawing board.