BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — The Planning Board approved the Master Plan concept for the WoodSpring Suites project proposed for the current site of Cap World on Route One.
Approving the concept means the board has decided that a 121-unit extended-stay hotel can be built. However, restrictions were placed on the approval, requiring the developer to revisit the design and landscaping of the property, said chairman Peter Rossetti.
“We’d like to see the building look a little more attractive,” Rossetti said. “That could relate to the color, the design of the outside of the building, the materials used, things like that.
“The other issue was related to the landscaping around the building,” he said.
The board said “they could certainly proceed to the next level but would have to agree to allow the Town of Saugus to hire someone to do what’s called a peer review,” he said. “Someone who is the equivalent of their designer or architect who would look at the plans and make suggestions about what could be changed.”
The landscaping surrounding the building was a concern because of residents who live in the surrounding area, including those who live in the manufactured homes located next to and behind the property.
“Having the people who live there, who currently look at trees, now all the sudden looking at the blank side of a building (is a concern),” Rossetti said.
Several people attended Thursday night’s meeting to speak either in opposition to or in support of the project. Others took the opportunity to ask questions, he said.
“Hopefully it was a good discussion,” he said.
While the plans are still conceptual, the hotel is expected to have four floors and 121 units with sufficient parking surrounding the footprint of the building. The units will feature kitchenettes and will vary in size.
“Basically these are designed for people who may be coming into the area for relatively short term stays,” Rossetti said.
The hotel will, ideally, accommodate someone visiting the area for work, for example, a traveling salesperson or specialist in construction, he said. It will also be helpful to those who are in the process of moving and may have sold their home before they are able to move into a new one, he said.
“According to (WoodSpring developers) there’s a high level of skilled and technical people that companies bring in for short terms to work on projects and then they move them on to another location,” he said. “I think they said it was an 85 percent occupancy ratio.
“There are two or three of these projects up the street in Peabody that seem to be doing pretty well,” Rossetti said.
The building will not contain any type of restaurant or entertainment facility, but may have a small gym inside, he said.
The Planning Board voted 4-0 to allow WoodSpring to go through the conceptual phase. Next, the project will go through the hillside protection stage because there is a hill located on the lot, Rossetti said.
“If you’re going to change the contour you have to try to make it adhere to the natural contours of the lot as much as possible,” he said. “You don’t want to leave cliffs and places that could be dangerous.”
Developers will also appear before the board for a site plan review, which will detail the specifics of how they’re going to develop the site.
“We’re going to be going through the peer review process with the town,” said Jack Knowles, senior entitlement manager for WoodSpring. “They want us to make some undefined architectural adjustments. They haven’t outlined what those are yet specifically, we’re just waiting to get more information.”
Knowles said the team is trying to be ready to appear before the board again at the end of February or beginning of March for site plan approval.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected].