Representatives of developer KM Hotels confirmed Thursday night the two hotels on Route 70 in Cherry Hill would be a Residence Inn (Marriott brand) and a Hampton Inn (Hilton brand). They do not yet have a company for their proposed restaurant.
A preliminary plan for two hotels and a restaurant on a vacant site on Route 70 westbound in Cherry Hill was approved Thursday night by the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
KM Hotels LLC (CH Development Partners LLC) applied to the board to build two hotels — 251 rooms total — and a small restaurant. An existing car wash would remain but be on a parcel that would split off from the existing site, east of the Cuthbert Boulevard intersection.
After listening to testimony from representatives of KM Hotels, the board approved the application for the subdivision, variances and preliminary site plan with several conditions, Cosmas P. Diamantis, the township director of community development, told 70and73.com.
"It's been a mess," Sandy Zeller, the board's solicitor, said of the Route 70 site. "There's nothing back there," he said at Thursday's meeting.
One board concern was the number of parking spaces: The developer proposes 296 spaces when 316 are required.Â
The 11.75-acre site at 2348 Route 70 West today has some dirt roads scratched out of the mostly wooded area. Bob and Maureen Lee had operated Lee Stone Supply on the site after they befriended Stephen Voschin, who died in 2007 and left the property to the Lees. Maureen Lee of Marlton sold the property to Route 70 West LLC in November 2011 for $2.75 million, according to state property records.
A now-closed vintage gasoline station and the Magic Car Wash — which is open and will remain so — also are on the site.
MORE: A homicide, a drowning part of history of site
Robert Mintz, the lawyer representing KM Hotels at the zoning hearing, disclosed that the developer is negotiating with Cooper Health Systems to buy a parcel of land that fronts on Route 70 and cuts a 150-by-125 foot rectangle in the middle of the KM land.Â
The project would go forward without a sale, however KM does "expect to work something out with Cooper," he said at the hearing.
Another issue is a planned 75-foot landscaped buffer at the back of the lot and next to a tributary of the Cooper River. No such buffer now exists and Jeremy Noll, the board's engineer, said the site would be improved by KM Hotels because now everything on the site runs off into the unnamed stream.
The planned buffer (red arrow) got a lot of attention at Thursday night's Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting. The developer would provide a buffer to the tributary of the Cooper River that is not there now. However, a recent state upgrade of the Cooper River's status would require a 300-foot buffer in the future, meaning this site likely wouldn't be developed, according to discussion at the meeting.
However, the state Department of Environmental Protection in April announced it will classify the Cooper River as a Class One waterway, which is an upgrade for the river and comes with stricter protections, including a required 300-foot buffer between development and tributaries.
At the time of KM Hotels' application, the site plan complied with the DEP buffer standards, said Donald Brickner, an environmental scientist at Marathon Engineering & Environmental Services Inc. of Swedesboro who was testifying for the developer.
Anil Patel, KM Hotels' vice president of development and construction, testified his company as well as Marriott and Hilton separately did market feasibility studies. The Residence Inn (Marriott) would face Route 70 and stand to the left of the Hampton Inn (Hilton), which would face west. Patel said the Hampton's customers typically would stay for a couple of nights while those at the Residence Inn would stay for a week, a month or longer.
Patel told the board the Residence Inn would replace the one now on Old Cuthbert Road in Cherry Hill.
He said KM Hotel is in discussions with different restaurant companies and has not settled on one yet.
KM Hotels is a Richmond, Virginia-based developer that operates top brand hotels such as Marriott, Hilton and Wyndham mostly in the south. The company was formed in 2013 and is owned by Mayur and Keyur Patel.
