'Boutique hotel' plan at former Surrey School in Hagerstown advances

A plan for a "boutique hotel" between Summit and Virginia avenues in Hagerstown moved ahead Tuesday with changes to the project's parking that are intended alleviate some neighbors' concerns.

During a regular session Tuesday night, the Hagerstown City Council again reviewed a request to turn a former school-turned-child care center at 535 Summit Ave. across from Hagerstown City Park into a hotel that will have a little more than 20 rooms.

The building was home to the former Learning Center and is also known as the "old Surrey school."

Now vacant, the two-story brick building used to be a public school before it was a day care center. Meritus Medical Center closed the center in 2016 and put the building up for sale in 2018 for $825,000.

Developer Valerie Sanderlin, an independent developer in Washington, D.C., is planning to develop a boutique hotel that will include a restaurant with outdoor dining, city documents said previously. Additions are also planned for the building. Another independent Washington, D.C. developer, Alexsis McKinney, is also involved.

A boutique hotel is typically a small hotel with upscale accommodations. They are often in fashionable locations.

During Tuesday's meeting, city council members agreed to introduce an ordinance establishing a "conversion district overlay" for the hotel.

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The purpose of a conversion district overlay is to encourage new uses of existing non-residential, multi-story and large one-story buildings in town. Doing so helps increase the city's assessable tax base, expand city business and employment and provide alternative development for under-utilized buildings in town, according to the city.

The council is expected to make a final vote on the ordinance on July 26.

Story background'Multi-sensory experience:' 25-room 'boutique hotel' planned for Hagerstown

The plan now contains changes for parking for the hotel, Kathleen Maher, the city's director of planning and code administration, said before Tuesday's meeting.

Some people living near the property expressed concern about the impact of the project, such as on-street parking in the neighborhood being taken up by people at the hotel, Maher said.

Project developers offered various alternatives to address parking concerns, and now the plan calls for expanding the number parking spaces on the property from 60 to 77, Maher said.

The planned number of rooms for the hotel has also gone from 29 to 26, she said.

Councilman Kristin Aleshire said previously he doesn't have any problems with the plan, but said he thinks it's unusual that parking for guests will be on the Summit Avenue side. Parking for the building has typically been on the Virginia Avenue side.

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Maher said hotel operators want to keep guest parking on the Summit Avenue side because they believe that is a more attractive main entrance to the building with its large lawn.

McKinnney and Sanderlin said in a phone interview earlier this year that the building purchase was completed last July.

They have both worked on a number of community development and housing projects in Washington.

McKinney said the boutique hotel will focus on well-being and wellness of its guests and offer a spa that includes steam rooms, sauna and other offerings. The hotel will be a "multi-sensory experience" that compliments nature, especially given its proximity to Hagerstown City Park, she said.

When asked what the restaurant will be like, McKinney said it will be "a little bit healthy, little bit fun and a little bit of art."

They anticipate the hotel being finished by the first quarter of 2024.