| Source: Greater Media Newspapers; News Transcript
December 5, 2005
Builders may make bids for Freehold Twp. hotels
Two applications are presently under review, but no hearings set yet
BY FRAIDY REISS
Correspondent
An architect's rendering shows a Hampton Inn that has been proposed by Freehold Lodging Realty for a location on Route 9 south, near Schanck Road, Freehold Township.
Suddenly it seems everyone wants to leave the light on for you.Two different applicants are asking for Freehold Township Planning Board approval to build hotel complexes on the same stretch of Route 9, and the plans for each of two large shopping centers also call for possible hotels.
All four hotels could have a room count of at least 100, which would qualify them to receive a free liquor license from the state.
Chris Kaempffer, of the Kaempffer Realty Group, Freehold Township, filed an application in April for the Colonial Commons at Freehold. He plans to build a 100-room hotel, a restaurant, office building, bank and day care center on the former Gordon Lumber site on Route 9 north, just south of the Route 79 intersection.
Kaempffer said the other hotel proposals would not affect his plans.
"We're moving forward," he said.
Across the highway, on Route 9 south between Schanck and Three Brooks roads, a plan similar to Kaempffer's is brewing. Freehold Lodging Realty - whose principals are Carey and Doran Tajfel and Steven Schwartz, of the East Windsor-based Tajfel Group and Hotels Unlimited - filed an application in October to build a hotel complex on that site.
The complex would include a 104-room Hampton Inn hotel, a chain restaurant, an office building, a bank and a Learning Experience day-care center.
Carey Tajfel said he was not worried about a competing project being proposed across the highway by Kaempffer. He said he and his partners are hotel owners and operators and believe they have an advantage over the Route 9 north group, who are developers.
"We're confident that we will build and operate our hotel before they line up someone to build their hotel," Tajfel said.
Neither Kaempffer's nor Tajfel's application has been deemed complete at this point, so neither one has been scheduled for a hearing by the board, Assistant Township Planner Guy Leighton said.
Meanwhile, the Freehold Marketplace shopping center that is being built on Route 537 at Castronova Way also has a possible hotel in its plans. At present, only a Wal-Mart and a Sam's Club are under construction at the site.
"It [a hotel] is something we're pursuing actively," said Scott Schroeder, vice president of marketing for Developers Diversified Realty.
Although the plans were not definite, Freehold Marketplace was looking for a tenant for the hotel and already had spoken with representatives of a few hotel chains, he said.
Schroeder said he had not yet decided on a room count for a hotel, but Mayor David M. Salkin confirmed that the Freehold Marketplace site could accommodate a 100-room facility.
Additionally the Freehold Raceway Mall's general development plan, approved by the Planning Board in 2003, includes a proposal for a 100-room hotel and two restaurants.
Deanne Shirey, manager of corporate communications for the mall's owner, Macerich Co., said she did not know the status of the mall's hotel plans.
Salkin said the proposed hotels "may or may not be built," but added, "The Township Committee always hoped [someone] would build a high-class hotel conference center that allows for large catered activities and occasions."
Freehold Township already has two hotels: the Freehold Gardens, off Route 537 at Gibson Place, which has 114 rooms, and a Days Inn on Route 9 near Route 522, with 50 rooms.
Just outside Freehold Township, developer Richard Brunelli has proposed building The Village at Manalapan on Route 33 at Millhurst Road, and he has asked the Manalapan Township Committee for a zoning change that would allow him to construct a hotel on that 135-acre site. So far no action has been taken on his proposal.
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