Under a plan being proposed by new owner Ashok Patel, housing units would be built on the sloping front lawn of the fire-damaged Red Jacket Mountain View Resort, which will be coming back under a new name. Units would also be built on the side and in back of the resort.
The redevelopment of the recently purchased property was on the Conway Planning Board’s April 11 agenda.
The agenda says that Patel of JHM Inc. seeks to undergo design review to “remodel the north wing and to reconstruct the south wing at the Red Jacket, and construct multi-unit residential structures with 25 apartments and 89 townhouses at 2251 White Mountain Highway, North Conway.”
“I think they want to come in for conceptual review to get a feel for what is allowed under our zoning as opposed to formal site-plan review,” selectmen’s representative Steve Porter told the Laconia Daily Sun on April 2.
Town Planner Ryan O’Connor confirmed that a proposed extension of the commercial building moratorium would not have an impact on the proposed housing development.
“This is just a conceptual review, not a formal site plan review,” said O’Connor. “It doesn’t necessarily consider all site-plan details, such as drainage. All of those issues would be addressed during site-plan review and we would discuss whether these two uses — housing and the hotel — would be compatible.”
The conceptual review available at conwaynh.org, shows clusters of units on either side of the front drive of the Red Jacket as well on the former tennis courts site off the back exit road onto Locust Lane.
Though the town is under a one-year moratorium on building hotels or commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet and the planning board asked voters to renew it on April 9, it would not apply to the Red Jacket because Patel’s company plans to rebuild the south wing on its prefire footprint.
The south wing was destroyed in the April 30, 2022, fire of undetermined origin.
Patel said the moratorium would not apply to his proposed housing units. “We have a right to whatever is allowed under current zoning,” said Patel.
Porter said he remains concerned about any redevelopment plan if it puts structures of any kind on the front lawn of the Red Jacket.
“My whole premise has been to try and protect certain areas from overdevelopment. Aesthetically, I want to find something pleasing. Again, we are in the state of New Hampshire, and we cannot prohibit it, but I can express my displeasure with any development using the green space on the front of that site if that is indeed the plan. So, I need to see the plans,” Porter said April 2.
Patel is among the principals of JHM Inc., the company that bought the Red Jacket from EOS Investors for $8.25 million Feb. 28. He confirmed to the Laconia Daily Sun this week that, while the redevelopment takes place, he first plans to reopen the non-fire-damaged Kahuna Laguna Indoor Water Park on May 3.
“Our aim is to continue to enhance the ecosystem around the Birchmont and continue to be a positive and contributing force in the valley,” Patel said.
“Also, we will rename the development to Birchmont Resort and Spa as it used to be once in its prime, restoration to the existing space is in planning stages,” he said.
Patel is also involved with the Home-2Suites built on the site of the 2007-firedamaged Fandangle’s Restaurant, the Yankee Clipper, the Fox Ridge Resort and the yet-to-open Cambria. Jamsan Management is involved with 85-plus hotels in Massachusetts.
The 1971-built Red Jacket prior to the fire had 153 rooms. Patel says originally it had 165 rooms, but a few were made into suites. It lost 75 rooms in the south wing in the fire and rooms in the north wing reportedly had some smoke damage from the fire but no water damage.
The south wing lacked a complete automatic sprinkler system, according to State Fire Marshal Sean Toomey. However, existing hotels that are not considered high-rises are not required to have such systems. Installing that system became a requirement in 1991 for buildings in new hotels that are not high-rises.
The 40,000-square-foot Kahuna Laguna Indoor Water Park was added to the property in 2008 and 12 townhouse rental condominiums.
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