A Hyatt hotel planned for Danville needs a special use permit to move forward because of its location on the Dan River. Lot frontage on the river requires extra permitting before construction starts, according to a report by city staff in the agenda packet for the planning commission’s Monday meeting.
At its 2 p.m. meeting, the planning commission will vote on whether to approve the special use permit, which will then go to city council for a final vote.
This permit is required before the planning commission and city council can review the proposed hotel for compatibility with the surrounding area, viewshed and recreation opportunities along the river, according to the staff report. However, the River District Design Commission already approved the proposed site plan at its Jan. 24 meeting.
The applicant for the permit, a group called Dan Hotel River St. LLC, wants to build a four-story, 120-room Hyatt Studio at 100 River St., near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge and the YMCA.
The lot is currently a brownfield site, or a former industrial or commercial property. It used to house the Long Mill buildings, part of the Dan River Mills network. The textile giant closed in 2006, and the Long Mill buildings were destroyed in a fire in 2008.
Brownfields are often abandoned and can be contaminated with hazardous substances, which means their redevelopment is more complicated.
This would be the first branded hotel in the River District, which currently only has boutique hotel properties, and would include access to the city’s riverwalk.
The boutique hotel properties offer a more upscale stay that is preferred by some visitors, said Lisa Meriwether, the city’s director of tourism.
But the fact remains: “We need full-service properties” to meet growing demand, she said.
Danville’s lodging demand has increased in recent years with the city’s focus on revitalization, tourism and economic development. The Caesars Virginia casino resort alone is expected to bring 2 million annual visitors to the region.
The city is working on a lodging demand analysis that was originally slated to be complete by mid-2024 but has still not been released. Even without the analysis, Meriwether said there has been an “incredible” increase in lodging demand in Danville.
The proposed Hyatt is projected to be a $30 million investment and represents a joint venture between Lansing Melbourne Group and 1st and Main Development, which are both North Carolina-based real estate developers.
Rory Dowling, owner of 1st and Main Development, has been involved in other projects in the River District, like the recently completed T.B. Fitzgerald building, a tobacco warehouse transformed into modern apartments.
Staff recommends that the planning commission grant this special use permit, with some requests — that the developers: provide a landscape screen between all parking areas and the view from the road and the river; use brick as the predominant exterior material on all sides; and use specific materials, like wood and appropriate metals, for window construction.
The project’s tentative schedule, according to a presentation included in the agenda packet, projects a grand opening in August or September of 2026. The developers hope to close on financing and begin sitework in April 2025 and complete construction in July 2026.
Also meeting this week is the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority at noon Monday, the Danville Industrial Development Authority at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Airport Commission meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday and the River District Design Commission at 4 p.m. Thursday.
In Pittsylvania County, the board of zoning appeals is meeting at 6 p.m. Monday.