Fast Facts
The proposed hotel—a five-story, 135-room facility with 5,000 square feet of meeting space—would include an indoor pool, exercise room, sundry shop, and casual dining facility. The designated location is a 3.7 portion of an 11-acre parcel (nearly two-thirds of the parcel will remain undisturbed), just east of the University Administration Building parking garage. Construction is scheduled to be completed by February, 2013.
FUNCTION
To accommodate the thousands of guests and visitors who attend University events and activities every year. Stony Brook University hosts more than 500,000 guests and visitors every year to many events, activities, conferences, and symposia. In addition, thousands of patients treated at Stony Brook University Medical Center and Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, who have family and friends visiting from outside the area will find the on-campus hotel a welcome amenity.
DEVELOPER
The developer is known as SBHC Private Equity IV, LLC, owned by Stony Brook University alumnus Dr. Robert J. Frey '87. Another Stony Brook alumnus, Frank Toner, '79, is the chief operating officer and head of construction.
OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT
The hotel will be operated under the Hilton Garden Inn franchise; Crescent Hotels & Resorts, LLC is the management company.
FUNDING
SBHC Private Equity IV, LLC is financing all construction and operating costs and will make payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT).
As part of the ground lease agreement, Stony Brook University will receive a $100,000 annual lease payment and a minority equity share in the hotel. In addition, the developer will pay an annual three percent escalation fee on the lease payment. All funds generated through the lease will stay on campus.
INITIATIVES TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The University worked with the developer to minimize impact on environmental vistas, and a buffer will remain between Nicolls Road and the hotel construction parcel. To facilitate the necessary construction requirements, the developer was required to clear a modest corridor in order to secure access to utility resources – electricity, gas, sewer, water – from the point of origin on Nicolls Road to the hotel. In order to minimize view of corridor, a landscaped barrier known as a “berm” will be installed along the Nicolls Road clearance. All other existing natural vegetation along Nicolls Road will be preserved under the identified “no clear” and “no build” zones.
The facility will be LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). To be LEED-certified, new buildings must comply with a number of green building standards.
HISTORY
The project site was proposed by the New York State Legislature in 1986 and approved by the Office of State Controller, Office of Budget, and the Attorney General’s Office in 1989. It took 20 years to identify a developer interested in both preserving a buffer and working with legislative ground lease parameters and the University’s guidelines.
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