Rye Brook Hesitant about Rye Town Hilton’s Expansion Plans

The property owner of the Rye Town Hilton may have to scrap current hopes for expansion after the Rye Brook Village Board and community members widely rebuked its concept plan Tuesday to add a parking structure, spa and townhomes to the hotel's property.

Ashford Hospital Trust would like to expand the Rye Town Hilton on Westchester Avenue and update its design so that it can compete with other hotels in the area. The company's attorney, Albert Pirro, and John Sullivan, an architect involved in sketching the concept, appeared before the village board Tuesday to outline the plan.

Ashford has not submitted a formal application yet, but presented a concept to the board and the Rye Brook community to gauge the viability of its expansion ideas before moving forward with an application process that can cost millions of dollars.

The Rye Town Hilton was built 35 years ago and Ashford has performed nearly $30 million worth of renovations since acquiring the property, Pirro said.

However, it wants to move forward with a larger-scale expansion, which includes a 50,000 square foot spa, a five level parking structure for 450 cars, 214 two-bedroom townhomes along the  hotel's periphery and improvements in the design and visibility of the hotel's front entrance. All the buildings would be sustainable and environmentally-friendly, Sullivan said.

The owner's representatives emphasized that they were just showing the board various land uses of the property, rather than presenting a firm plan.

"We are not going to file an application until we get a concept that has some sort of chance of winning a majority of the residents or the board," Pirro said. 

Tuesday's presentation comes nearly a year after Pirro first met with the board to discuss the hotel's expansion. In February 2009, the board expressed concerns about the magnitude of the hotel's plans for a spa and parking garage and that the concept didn't include affordable or senior housing.

"We talked about the fact that it was massive, that we were concerned about the density, about the bulk," said Mayor Joan Feinstein. "[We said that] we may not be opposed to having some housing stock."

Though the property owners revised their original plan, the village board and residents were vocal in their opposition Tuesday to the hotel's new concept.

"In some ways I have more concerns about this plan than the last plan," Feinstein said.

Feinstein said she was concerned about the expansion's proximity to Lincoln Avenue and Rye Hill, and about the new development's effect on the character of the community.

"I'm not fundamentally opposed to some [development], but not at the expense of affecting the character and the view," Feinstein said. "We don't want people to all of a sudden look up and see this massive garage or massive spa."

Trustee Dean Santon said the "project is just woefully too big" and that the concept plan seemed to be more about making money from a residential development rather than expanding the hotel. 

"This project doesn't fit anyway you look at it," he said. "You're proposing a land deal to probably fund the improvements of the hotel."

 Residents also rebuked the idea.

"The project is simply unacceptable," said Lincoln Avenue resident Phyllis Dickstein. "It would deprive us of the quiet enjoyment of our homes and greatly depress their values."

Dickstein also expressed concern about increased traffic caused by a new development and that the expansion would make the hotel becoming more visible in the community.

"This would be an eyesore in itself and a general nuisance to the residents," she said.

Pirro had initially asked that the concept plan be referred to the planning board, but decided to change course after hearing from the board and village residents.

"There should be a discussion maybe instead of a plan," Pirro said. "I'd rather do that than come through this messy game for years."

Mayor Feinstein concluded the discussion by saying the village board would consider Pirro's request.