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Most reaction negative to SBU hotel
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Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr.'s announcement last week that an agreement had been signed to construct a 135-room hotel on campus has met with strong reaction from the community. As more information was revealed regarding the proposed facility, community leaders sought a meeting with university officials, primarily to discuss the hotel's location at the main entrance to the campus on Nicolls Road.
The "local developer" noted in Dr. Stanley's email announcement Oct. 14 is Harbor Construction Management, owned by Robert Frey (SBU '87, Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics). Frey is on the faculty list at SBU as well. Frey's company most recently developed the North Shore Professional Center opposite Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
Harbor Construction is in "final discussions with Hilton Garden Inn," according to SBU's Office of Media Relations, which also said the construction will be LEED certified as "a building project [that] is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work." SBU also stated there will be no cost to it or SUNY for the construction of the facility and the "Stony Brook Foundation Realty will receive a six figure annual lease payment with an annual three per cent escalation fee, plus a minority equity share in the hotel. All funds generated will stay on campus." SBU stated the hotel "is projected to be operational within two years."
A ground lease for the construction of a for-profit hotel and conference center approved by the state legislature in 1989 has 40 years left to run, according to SBU.
Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) — quick to state that then-Asemblyman Bob Gaffney and then-state Senator Jim Lack were the sponsors of the lease agreement, not him — said he would "like to see the site plan" before reaching any conclusions on the proposal, but said his main concern is a buffer. "Nicolls Road from Montauk Highway to Route 25A was built to be a greenbelt," Englebright said. He added that the campus entrance was "already very prominent" so a hotel located within the interior of the campus would be easily found by any visitors. SBU said Monday a site plan was not yet available. Last week SBU reported renderings of the proposed hotel were not yet prepared.
A statement from the Three Village Chamber of Commerce read in part, "previous plans for a hotel on campus … raised major questions about whether the project would benefit the community." The Chamber said it intended "to meet very soon" with university officials to see that "history does not repeat itself."
Kara Hahn, president of the Civic Association of the Setaukets and Stony Brook, said, "We recognize a real need for an on-site conference center," but expressed concern about the "impact on the environment and businesses" in the Three Village area. "We do not want to commercialize Nicolls Road," she added. Hahn said a meeting was planned for tomorrow with Barbara Chernow, SBU vice president for facilities and services. "When we work together," Hahn noted, "it can be a win-win."
In a lengthy memo to the campus community Oct. 15, the day after Dr. Stanley's announcement, Chernow wrote, "Areas surrounding the hotel will be landscaped and will include buffers along Nicolls Road and Entrance Drive."
One longtime SBU supporter who would be directly and probably adversely impacted by the new hotel is John Tsunis, owner of the Holiday Inn Express on Nesconset Highway. Tsunis said he was "still gathering information" on the plan but was "disappointed in the announcement. As far as I know no local hotel operator was asked to be involved." The Three Village resident, who serves on several SBU committees, said his is the "official hotel for the Staller Center" and SBU athletics. "Obviously it's a big part of my business," he said. Tsunis added he hoped for "a constructive conversation with the university" and, if the hotel becomes a reality, "a constructive relationship with the operator."
Stewart Weiner, who runs Danford's Hotel and Conference Center in Port Jefferson, was less pessimistic. "At Danford's we're not concerned because we're unique," Weiner said. "We're on the water." He said Danford's would "get the overflow" and those who did not want to stay on campus.
Peter Lessing, whose catering company owns the Three Village Inn that offers a hotel and cottages for overnight accommodations, state Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-East Setauket) and Lee Koppelman, long Suffolk County's preeminent planner and a SBU faculty member, had not returned calls for comment by press time.
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