Faced with Building Issue, New Hotel Seeks to Fill Market Gap

Author: Devin Zarkowsky Staff Writer

With seasonal regularity, Middlebury College parents inundate local lodgings with reservation requests only to find themselves relegated to various potluck room drawings. Proximal temporary living space for popular College events, such as graduation and the twice-annual Fall Family Weekend, is not necessarily available to 700-plus families. Pomerleau Real Estate Inc., a development group headed by namesake Antonio Pomerleau, seeks to capitalize on this dearth of lodging.

Although the community is currently served by various organizations supplying a total of 357 rooms within the town limits, no nationally-advertised chain offers mid-range accommodations; such an establishment might charge between $70 and $90 per night. "Franchise motels are non-existent in Middlebury," said Pomerleau. "My motel will fill a gap almost every other similarly-sized town in the surrounding area, such as St. Albans, has already." Intending to build on a Burlington success, Pomerleau seeks to fill what it perceives to be an available niche in Middlebury's lodging economy.

Current blueprints include 80 rooms and a 97-space parking lot. The hotel driveway will feed into Route 7 at an existing traffic light near Brooks Pharmacy.

Acquiring zoning approvals authorizing construction has delayed Pomerleau's plans several years. Starting in 1998, Pomerleau sought to comply with Vermont Act 250. According to Fred Dunnington, Middlebury town planner, this particular statewide law governs large developments. Pomerleau's original design did not conform to aforementioned guidelines.

Pomerleau offered building numbers as the cause. "Initially I proposed one building. During the review process, the town asked me to alter the design to break up the façade into three sections." Route 7 South borders the intended site, an area deemed "architecturally and scenically established" by the Planning and Zoning commission.

As such, all proposed structures' sizes and exteriors must conform to specified trends. During deliberations, the town changed directions again, asking Pomerleau to revert to the one-building scheme. Dunnington said that the previous version connected each wing with open walks that appeared "insubstantial"; these walks now exist as enclosed corridors in the final design.

Interestingly enough, a competing corporation, KW Middlebury Partnership, petitioned the town of Middlebury simultaneously for permission to build a separate hotel on a plot across the street from the Pomerleau development. "Basically, it turned into the two hotels dueling at the Planning Commission meeting," said Dunnington.

Protracted wrangling over design details displaced discussions instead to court, and subsequent appeals effectively relegated plans to a legal quagmire. Dunnington further comments: "Whereas they [KW Middlebury Partnership] fought the town, Pomerleau exemplifies a bidder successful after working with the town."

The Pomerleau hotel's potential impact on the Middlebury economic ecosystem includes 75 new full and part time positions as well as increased consumer traffic in the downtown area. Locals servicing hungry overnight travelers will likely enjoy the largest boom.

Questionable, however, is how well an additional establishment will integrate into a sometimes over-supplied market. Blue Spruce Motel's Manager Peter Patel said, "It might be good; it might be bad. It might bring business to the community, but then again, it will compete with our hotel directly." Adds Bill Pearce, guest services director at the Chipman Inn, "I don't know; it is difficult to forecast. Of course it means more competition, and really, there are only a few days out of the year where you need that much lodging, but that has not dissuaded people from taking a risk in the past."

Middlebury Planning and Zoning enlisted University of Vermont Economics Professors Ronald Savitt and Michael Gurdon in 1998 to quantify potential effects stemming from Pomerleau's proposed hotel. Savitt and Gurdon's analysis argues that the lodging market is currently in a "mature phase," pointing toward supply saturation. Their conclusions cite seasonal tourism trends as a primary factor defining the Middlebury lodging industry. Originally appearing in the October 1999 issue of Champlain Business Journal, Savitt and Gurdon quote Timothy Shaw, Lake Champlain regional chamber of commerce tourism director: "In terms of marketing dollars … it is not getting the visitors to our region on weekends, but filling the rooms throughout the week that provides the challenge." Changing seasons amplify inconsistent weekly demand.

Citing a competing study prepared by Jeffrey Carr of Economic Policy and Resource Inc., Williston, Vt., Pomerleau predicts otherwise. "We will survive. I have several hotels around the country; we have no competition in our price range."

Carr's report employs a widely accepted environment assessment equation dubbed IMPLAN. Based on this valuation, Carr's data suggests brand-name recognition will allow the Middlebury hotel to "…increase overnight stays, likely to moderately impact the economy," while adding $15,000 in tax revenue to town coffers.

Savitt and Gurdon respond, "The assertion that the proposed project will help the Middlebury community to capture an increased share of the region's overnight visitors is highly questionable. We suggested in our original submission that there is currently over-capacity and the addition of more rooms will simply exacerbate this problem." Additionally, Carr did not release specifics regarding his IMPLAN variable scheme, without which Savitt and Gurdon could not directly rebut his claims.

Neither party would comment on new developments, as they have not been involved in the Pomerleau project since the town meeting in 1998.