By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Such a stay on the South Shore of Long Island hasn't been an easy thing to do, with the lack of an upscale hotel on the beach. Which is why some Long Beach city leaders have promoted the idea of constructing a hotel on the long-vacant six-acre Superblock site.
Some regional business experts think those pushing the idea are right on the mark.
For years I have said that Long Beach is ripe for a hotel, said Bob Lipper, President of Island-Metro Publications, which tracks Long Island's hotel industry. I think that a hotel on the Boardwalk facing the Atlantic Ocean, with big picture windows, will absolutely attract a summer resort business from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Current plans call for the construction of a luxury boutique hotel as part of the development of the Superblock, which runs from Broadway to the Boardwalk between Riverside Boulevard and Long Beach Road. Two condominium towers would sit on either side of the hotel complex.
Designed by architect Todd Harvey of Beatty, Harvey & Associates, The Beach Hotel would include an 11,000-square foot spa, two restaurants, a covered parking lot and a 75-person capacity screening room.
Philip Pilevsky, chief executive of Philips International Holding Corp., is one of the three limited developers in the project. Other developers include Hy Carlinsky of Armstrong Management Corp. and Stephen Haber of Realco Group, both based in Garden City.
Philips International was selected from a field of four potential developers last February, and signed a contract with the City last November to build the 100-room boutique hotel and a two-tower, 325 apartment high-rise condominium complex.
Carlinsky and Haber have said room rates for The Beach Hotel would be similar to those of the Andrew Hotel in Great Neck, which Pilevsky completed renovations earlier this year. Those rooms run from $155 to $230 per night.
Construction is currently estimated to begin in the Spring of 2003 and take about a year to complete.
City officials have wanted to develop the Superblock area since 1989. To do so, the city will use Urban Renewal powers, allowing it to take ownership of the vacant land before turning it over to the developers. The lot has been the largest undeveloped beach front property in Long Beach.
The City of Long Beach will receive $8 million from the developer for the land acquisition cost and the total project is estimated at $85 million dollars. A sales office for the apartments will be open in April 2002. The apartments will range from one to three bedrooms and will be priced from $500,000 to $3 million.
On Long Island, there are currently six hotels under construction that are scheduled to open this year, totaling 772 rooms, and several more are in the planning stages.
While some analysts have suggested there will not be enough business for the new hotels since the occupancy rate is down in Nassau County, Lipper believes the industry will end up doing just fine.
The market is down somewhat, but quite frankly the hotels could survive with that market down because they were doing pretty well, Lipper said.
But even in a down economy, Lipper believes Long Beach's entry into the industry should do fine. With the city's closeness to Manhattan and it's beach front location, the opportunity exists to attract visitors to a new hotel that normally wouldn't be here, Lipper says. Furthermore, it would draw business from guests who are already here.
People are not flying out as often as they used to, and people aren't flying into the New York area as they were. But by the same token, you have 60 million people within a two-hour drive that are not flying out either.
At least one expert agrees. Chief economist of the Long Island Association Dr. Pearl M. Kamer believes that Long Island's tourism industry will actually do better than expected this year. I think what's going to happen is the loss from business travel is going to be offset by recreational travel for Metropolitan area residents, said Kamer.
Kamer feels that people in the New York City, Westchester and Northern New Jersey will decide against traveling abroad because of the fear of terrorism.
I think the terrorist attracts, in the short run at least, work in the favor of Long Island, Kamer said. With the prediction of the Metropolitan tourism staying closer to home, Kamer feels this will help Long Island and especially Long Beach. Since Long Beach's hotel will be upscale and own a premiere location, it will be very attractive to tourists, Kamer said.
The Beach Hotel in Long Beach probably won't even have to fight to attract tourists, Lipper feels.
In Nassau County, most [hotel] guests come from outside the Nassau-Suffolk region. Although business for hotels on Long Island is primarily corporate travelers from Monday through Thursday, there is a good amount of weekend social businesspeople who come to visit kids in college, go to reunions, weddings, etc.
My belief is that [the hotel] is going to do very well, President of the Long Island Convention and Business Bureau Michael Hollander said. First of all, it's going to do very well in the community, itself. When the community has friends and relatives visiting, they are going to fill up. It's also going to fill up because there is some secondary business in Long Beach, and on top of that they are going to fill up because they are on the beach.
Lipper added, A hotel in Long Beach has the potential to do terrific because of it's location facing the ocean. People want to be on the water. People want to live on the water front and they want to stay on the water front.
