Franklin St. hotel to break ground soon

Architects are weeks away from breaking ground on a Franklin Street hotel, almost three years after the town issued a special-use permit for the development.

The principal architect on the project, Josh Gurlitz, said he picked up the final building permits from Chapel Hill Town Hall on Thursday.

He said construction could begin as early as next month.

Gurlitz and GGA Architects, on Rosemary Street, had been planning to start building a boutique-style hotel since the special-use permit was approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council in November 2001.

But a number of problems related to acquiring site permits have delayed construction.

Gurlitz said Thursday that his firm now only needs to contract construction equipment before building will finally begin.

"Everyone's on go," Gurlitz said, calling it an exciting time.

When construction does begin, the site of the old Greyhound bus station on West Franklin Street will slowly begin to grow into the upscale hotel.

The hotel is planned to be two stories high on Franklin Street and five stories further back from the street. It will have 66 boutique-style rooms.

"I'm very excited for this," said Jamil Kadoura, the owner of the Mediterranean Deli, across West Franklin Street from where the hotel will be. "I've literally been waiting for this ... this will be great for all of downtown."

Gurlitz said construction on the University or in Greensboro are the only things standing in the way of the project getting started.

"Business downtown will really benefit from this," Kadoura said. "This will bring employment downtown. It's not another UNC but it will help."

The hotel is not the only project that will soon be altering the skyline of west downtown.

Another high-profile project will be striking ground for the first time just before the hotel is expected to begin construction.

Chris Ehrenfeld, a partner in Rosemary Village, a planned mixed-use, four-story project on West Rosemary Street across from Skylight Exchange, said builders will start working within three weeks.

Ehrenfeld said workers will begin prepping the site as early as next week.

Along with the hotel, Ehrenfeld said Rosemary Village will be a catalyst in the movement to revitalize downtown.

"These should help out everybody," he said of the projects.

Rosemary Village will include luxury condominiums and retail space, and occupy the former space of Lost City Music & Video.

The hotel has met with a number of delays following the approval of the special-use permit, resulting from negative effects on the industry after Sept. 11, 2001 and the extensive number of site approvals needed before construction could begin.

Kadoura said he has been hearing that construction would begin on the hotel "every month" since 2001.

"I've been seeing this empty place and just hoping that something would happen," he said. "I'm going to go spread the word."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.