Last week, Plamondon Hospitality Partners, The City of Frederick and Randall Family LLC jointly took the next step required to build the Downtown Hotel and Conference Center at Carroll Creek and a related new public parking structure at 200 E. Patrick Street. The three parties involved filed the application with the City’s Historic Preservation Commission. This is the first step in the review and approval process. The Maryland Historical Trust will also review the plans.
The Smart-Growth-inspired infill development project is designed to be harmonious with and complement the entire Historic District in scale, architecture and function. It will address parking as well as traffic flow to and through the area by adding access points on East Patrick Street with a connection from South Carroll Street. Plamondon Hospitality Partners will build, own, and operate the hotel and meeting space at their own cost. The City is solely partnering on the project to purchase the development site and build a new public parking garage below the hotel/meeting space, along with related utilities, etc.
As a key part of the Project, Plamondon Hospitality Partners plans to restore the historic Frederick trolley station building, which was used most recently as offices of The Frederick News-Post. Randall Family LLC owns the property, which is under contract to be sold as part of this project. The application includes a request to remove the non-historic press room that was added to the trolley station building in the 1960s.
The applicants are also requesting to demolish an existing vacant building at the rear of the property which replaced a structure that was one of many making up an operating tannery until the 1920s. A fire in 1909 destroyed all but a small portion of the structure. The building that replaced it later became a sales office for tanned products, and in the late 40s and early 50s, it became a poultry business, slaughter and packaging site. The existing building has been reconfigured since the 1950s and suffered another fire. Most recently, it was used for residential/storage until its current vacancy in 2009.
For more information and updates about the project, including the applications, visit the hotel website. You can read the full press release here.
