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Project: 94-120 Frelinghuysen Avenue

An unconventional plan to construct a hotel on top of an airport parking garage in Newark’s South Ward has resurfaced in a slightly different way.

Back in 2016, a proposal by 98 Frelinghuysen Real Estate Urban Renewal Entity, LLC to bring a 129-room hotel to 94-120 Frelinghuysen Avenue was revealed. At the time, the company received approvals from the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment to construct a four-story hotel that would be attached to the Secure Newark Airport Parking (SNAP) garage at the corner of Poinier Street. There were also plans for a “sky lobby” with “a bar and breakfast buffet area, a fitness center, business center, meeting room, and lounge,” a legal notice stated at the time.

In the nearly three years since the project was approved, there has been barely any news regarding the hotel proposal. The eight-story SNAP garage has continued operating on the premises just as it has been since it was converted from an abandoned factory to a parking garage in 2012. However, a new ordinance shows that the developer is still planning a hotel on the premises.

The proposal by the 98 Frelinghuysen Real Estate Urban Renewal Entity now calls for the hotel to consist of 110 rooms and for it to be constructed “above the existing parking garage,” according to city records. The website of the State College, Pennsylvania-based Shaner Group features a rendering of the three-story rooftop project and shows that the hotel is expected to be a Comfort Inn & Suites location. Meanwhile, according to Chafia Capital Partners, there are still plans for an “outdoor balcony, bar and breakfast lounge, fitness center, business center, and meeting facilities” as part of the 71,000-square-foot development.

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JERSEY DIGS