Swampscott Hadley School Hotel Developer Picked: Select Board

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A boutique hotel proposal for the Hadley School centered around keeping as much as the current school facade and structure intact as possible, with a high-ceiling restaurant that could employ up to 125 full-time employees, a rooftop bar and event space and dog-friendly amenities was the choice of the Swampscott Select Board as the preferred hotelier to redevelop and manage the space over the next three years.

Select Board members were unanimous in support of a Clearview Investment Management group proposal for the space that will be run under the Delamar Hotels brand.

The Clearview proposal was chosen out of a final three that included proposals from The Drew Company and Noannet.

The full Clearview RFP can be viewed here.

"At the start of this process if we would have ever dreamt that we would have received three responses to the RFPs of the caliber of the Noannet, the Drew companies and Delamar we would have been happy with one," Select Board Chair David Grishman said. "But we got three (finalists) in addition to four other respondents. ... I really liked the presentation from Delamar in the fact that we're talking about reducing our carbon footprint and being more green and environmentally friendly. And from a historic preservation perspective, the fact that they are going to use the entirety of the main Hadley structure as well as the Annex structure certainly spoke to me.

"To me, the choice is clear. The choice is Delamar."

Grishman said he and Select Board member Peter Spellios took a trip to the Delamar Hotel in West Hartford on Sunday and that "it felt like home."

"Having seen that in action and having seen that operation," Grishman said, "and envisioning moving that operation in West Hartford into Swampscott is something is certainly something I feel the community is going to be happy with the end result."

Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher said she went with Delamar because it is a family business that is in the hotel operational business and because she felt confident when representatives said they were "very focused on the community" they were being genuine about it.

Select Board members Doug Thompson and Spellios stressed that choosing a preferred developer does not end the public's involvement in how the hotel ultimately looks and fits into the neighborhood, but that it will be an ongoing process used to inform Clearview of the residents' desires for the property.

"It's really going to get more and more important now that we continue (community involvement)," Thompson said. "Once you get in a room, and you negotiate a deal, the inclination is to kind of close down because you are trying to close things down. We're going to have to fight that and ensure that we are continuing to breathe air into that and continue to have input into that.

"We have to ensure that this is really an ongoing operation that is responsive to the community and survives. ... At the end of the day, everybody is not going love every single piece of this. Absolutely, that's not going to happen. But I do believe that continuing to engage in this process, and talking, and giving feedback, is going to continue to make this project the best it can possibly be for us."

Clearview representatives were one of the three finalists who said an architect was not designated prior to submitting the RPF.

The RFP said that (Greenwich Hospitality Group) "envisions repurposing the Hadley School into a market-leading full service 55-60 key 'Delamar' hotel, restaurant and spa with dedicated meeting and event space," including:

• Guest rooms will be divided between the ‘main’ school building, and the annex building.
• What is currently the principal/nurses office/admin office will become the hotel lobby and check-in with stair access from the front of the building facing Redington Street, and ADA accessible by elevator.
• What is currently the gym will become a full-service restaurant & bar with dramatic double-height ceilings, an open-concept finishing kitchen in place of the existing stage, and a private dining room. If approved, a new terrace will be built off the building to provide guests with seasonal outdoor dining overlooking historic Linscott Park and Nahant Bay.
• If approved, a new one-story addition will be constructed on the roof of the ‘main’ building. This area will be programed with two penthouse suites, an event space, and a seasonal outdoor bar – all of which have unrivaled views overlooking Nahant Bay and the Boston skyline.
• The basement of the ‘main’ building will house the Spa, fitness center, and prep kitchen – along with regular back office functions such as employee offices, storage, mechanicals, housekeeping, and laundry.
• Parking will be located on the site of the existing lawn/playground, with select parking available along the Redington Street side of the property. Where possible, the existing blacktop that is not used for parking will be converted into landscaping and green space

"The fact that Delamar came back and (proposed to use) the existing building — both the main building and the annex — is really meaningful to me," Spellios said. "It's not going to be easy ... But I think that meant a lot. It's familiar and we know it."

Spellios said how Delamar goes about landscaping, parking and even "the removal of trees" will be under town influence, and that were aspects of the two competing proposals that could be hopefully incorporated into the eventual Clearview design.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)