What would be better for S.O. A new restaurant or a small hotel in the Old Village Hall Building
Neither. It is too big for a high quality restaurant and not laid out well for a hotel.
It would be better used as a private school or place for enrichment like a rec center or community college.
While I think a hotel would be nice, I also can't think of a situation where I would actually have need of it except in very rare circumstances.
unfortunately those don't generate tax revenue, and we can't afford to do that right now. That building needs to either be city hall or generate taxes. One of the two.
FilmCarp said:
unfortunately those don't generate tax revenue, and we can't afford to do that right now. That building needs to either be city hall or generate taxes. One of the two.
South Orange would get property taxes. Property taxes are not based on sales revenues.
eta - Deleted reference to a PILOT.
For those who didn't watch the most recent BOT meeting, in his report Barry Lewis said that the Village had received proposals for a hotel and a restaurant in response to the request for proposals for an alternative use of Village Hall.
A restaurant/banquet with outdoor seating could really be amazing as an adaptive reuse.
I'm not opposed to a hotel, as having one in town would be great, but it seems to me like the prices would have to be pretty high to make it work. A restaurant probably adds a little more to the downtown but both could be great.
A hotel would be good because it would not only pay property taxes, but would also pay occupancy taxes. This is additional tax charged to guests, I believe in the amount of 5% to municipality and 3% to county. Could be wrong on the exact numbers.
That said I can't imagine a hotel being successful there.
Red_Barchetta said:
A hotel would be good because it would not only pay property taxes, but would also pay occupancy taxes. This is additional tax charged to guests, I believe in the amount of 5% to municipality and 3% to county. Could be wrong on the exact numbers.
That said I can't imagine a hotel being successful there.
I stand corrected about a hotel not paying taxes based on revenues.
A private school would generate revenue.
Language school? Prep school? A for-profit trade school or university? Computer programming/tech school?
The building has both parking and access to public transportation for students.
Hotel. Proximity to Seton Hall, NY and the SO train make it an ideal location. Would bring shoppers and diners to the center of town, and literally make SO a destination.
There have been so many times when we would have loved to be able to put up visiting family in a hotel close to home.
South Orange isn't a tourist destination. Every so often, you wish there were a place to put up visitors, and that's true for everyone else at various times, but those times don't add up to a constantly full hotel.
Based on the thread earlier in the week about SO needing more boutique/Brooklyn/hipster places, the hotel would have to have a beard trimming salon that holds artisanal cucumber pickling classes. The cucumbers will need to be locally sourced though, maybe reduce some of the parking in the area for that?
cramer said:
For those who didn't watch the most recent BOT meeting, in his report Barry Lewis said that the Village had received proposals for a hotel and a restaurant in response to the request for proposals for an alternative use of Village Hall.
Video at http://view.earthchannel.com/PlayerController.aspx?PGD=southorangenj&iID=317
In addition to potential cost of $7.6M for renovation for Village Hall, renovation of the Police Headquarters will be approximately $5M and renovation of the Baird will likely be even more. Tom_Reingold said:
South Orange isn't a tourist destination. Every so often, you wish there were a place to put up visitors, and that's true for everyone else at various times, but those times don't add up to a constantly full hotel.
How many visitors does Seton Hall get? It would have to be a small hotel but if it targets that market, it could keep busy.
bog said:
How many visitors does Seton Hall get? It would have to be a small hotel but if it targets that market, it could keep busy.
I don't know, but when it isn't move-in or move-out weekend, how many Seton Hall parents will want to stay over? Pretty close to zero, every week.
If there is enough for everyone all the time, there is excess capacity.
I think a hotel would be super for visiting guests to stay at. My apartment is just too small.
Tom_Reingold said:
bog said:
How many visitors does Seton Hall get? It would have to be a small hotel but if it targets that market, it could keep busy.
I don't know, but when it isn't move-in or move-out weekend, how many Seton Hall parents will want to stay over? Pretty close to zero, every week.
If there is enough for everyone all the time, there is excess capacity.
The hotel that is ON my daughter's college campus jacks up the rates for move-in/move-out weeks, Parents' weekend and Graduation week. And the place fills up months ahead of those times. It is also a conference facility and every time I've been there outside of those big parent visiting times, there has been some kind of business or organization meeting going on. I don't know if something like that would work, but it's an idea.
Tom_Reingold said:
South Orange isn't a tourist destination. Every so often, you wish there were a place to put up visitors, and that's true for everyone else at various times, but those times don't add up to a constantly full hotel.
We likely have the market as a college town, especially if you add in residents' visiting family and the complete and utter under supply of hotels in the area. Not to mention the proximity to NYC and the train station. While a boutique hotel could be successful, it all depends on price which, I imagine, depends partially on the build out and number of rooms,
When you are a commuter and live in South Orange, South Orange is extremely close to NYC. When you are a tourist from outside the NYC area and want to see the sights in NYC, South Orange is insanely far from NYC. The time and money you would need to spend to commute between the two places if you are sightseeing in NYC every day are prohibitive. If there were a capacious hotel in South Orange charging half of what NYC hotels charge, it would remain empty.
Boutique hotel would be awesome, maybe one for long term stays-- allot of people rent short term in Jersey City etc and commute into NYC so SO would be a great alternative (ie consultants working on a project with a strict per Diem) Would just take a bit of marketing to get that demographic
I also thought the mapso area would be cool for tech start up "hoteling" which includes shared office space and living spaces
Would be cool for SO I think. Easy to say since it's not my dime and I doubt it would ever fly long-term without serious reataurant revenue on the ground floor, but still.
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What are your thoughts?