AGAWAM — The Opal Inn & Suites, a proposed Main Street hotel, returned to the Planning Board on June 6 for a site plan review, where developers discussed its layout, amenities, and the construction process.
Developers also reiterated that the target demographic would not be migrants or homeless people seeking emergency shelter.
“This is a market-rate, brand-new hotel that’s being proposed. I know there were some questions about transient people potentially utilizing this. That’s not the business plan in any way shape or form,” said Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates, the firm working with Shield Hotels.
Planning Board member Charles Elfman asked who the target audience was. Shield Hotels Vice President John Redmond said there’s a large demand year-round for corporate workers. Others visiting would be families and those visiting sporting events.
“There’s really nothing in Agawam itself, so we know business is going to Springfield, West Springfield. By having a hotel here, we’re going to be able to catch everybody in Agawam,” he said.
Earlier this year, Shield Hotels sought to change the zoning on a 12,000-square-foot rectangular sliver in the back of the parcel from Residential A-2 to Business A. The change was the subject of Planning Board and City Council meetings, which Agawam residents used as an opportunity to voice support or opposition to the hotel itself.
Supporters said the hotel would attract visitors who’d normally stay in West Springfield or Springfield, and allow them to spend money in town. Opponents said the hotel would become an emergency shelter, that it would worsen traffic, and that it would be empty during Six Flags’ off-season.
The zone change was approved by both the Planning Board and City Council.
The Opal Inn & Suites would be a 23,000-square-foot, 42-room hotel with three floors. It would be located at 1422 Main St. behind D’ Patron Mexican Restaurant, accessible via a driveway from the restaurant’s parking lot to a new one built for the hotel. The property is beside the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery and is less than a mile north of Six Flags New England.
Levesque told the Planning Board on June 6 that developers, uncertain if they’d receive the zone change, reduced the number of rooms from 42 to 40, then increased it to 42 again once it was approved.
The increase in rooms, he said, would not increase the amount of employees, but would require two new parking spaces, the locations of which he highlighted on the site plans.
Redmond said rooms would come with a coffee pot, refrigerator, TV, and either two queen-sized or one king-sized bed. The hotel would have no pool or gym.
“It’s going to be a boutique-type hotel, select service,” said Redmond. “It’s really the rooms, is what we’re offering.”
Rooms would cost around $172 to $200 a night.
Elfman also asked about walking and driving traffic. Levesque said he expects people to check in, spend a night, then check out. That would equal a few vehicle trips a day coming and going. With only 42 rooms, he said there’d be a “minimal amount of trips” added to the typical load on Main Street, which is a state highway, Route 159.
As for walking traffic, he said the distance to Six Flags would make it neither fun nor safe to walk there. He said if people were using the hotel to visit the amusement park, Shield Hotels would be open to discussing a shuttle between the properties.
As for D’ Patron Mexican Restaurant, Levesque said it is still operating now and the goal is for it to operate during construction, as well. Shields Hotel will eventually run both buildings, he said, and the restaurant building will be leased back to D’Patron.
The hearing was continued to Thursday, June 20. Planning Board meetings start at 6 p.m. at the Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main St.
