Hotel wall design approved despite concerns

Visitors and residents crossing the Route 90 bridge will soon see a new view of a developing major hotel because of a plan that will incorporate a wave design on what otherwise looked like an eight-story tall “prison wall.”

The new artistic effort makes good on a provision that was part of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s 2014 a site plan approval for a 150-room Residence Inn by Marriott hotel along the bay near the bridge. According to officials, the preliminary concept included a stark white wall on the north side of the hotel facing the bridge, while the east, west and south sides included windows, wave-like roof heights and other features.

One of the stipulations attached to that approval was that the developers would return to the commission with a revised design of the wall to meet the commission’s sense of aesthetics. Two weeks ago, the commission asked the developers to deliver on that promise, even though the project is roughly 90 percent complete.

“We’ve had about 20 calls, and we’ve been told that the long white wall looks like a prison,” Commission member Palmer Gillis said at that session. “What we’re wondering is what we’re going to do to break that up.”

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