SALISBURY — The town’s search to find someone to convert the former Railroad Avenue police station to a hotel will start anew after the Board of Selectmen on Monday voted to terminate negotiations with the current developer.
“I think there were multiple aspects that we just couldn’t come to agreements on, timelines and getting some paperwork in that he was supposed to get in within 14 days and he just couldn’t manage to do it,” selectmen Chairman Michael Colburn said the following day.
Following an executive session, selectmen voted unanimously in favor of ending negotiations with Surf Break Hospitality, formerly Down East Residential LLC, and authorized Town Manager Neil Harrington to issue a new request for proposals.
Surf Break Hospitality had been given two weeks to attempt to compromise with selectmen after both sides reached a stalemate during the Sept. 9 board meeting.
The 86-year-old police station closed its doors more than six years ago once the new station on Beach Road opened. Now, the town is looking to sell the property and see the Salisbury Beach cornerstone developed.
Surf Break Hospitality submitted the highest bid for the property at $800,000 and was selected for the project at a Board of Selectmen meeting Dec. 18. Its proposal called for 10 hotel units and 18 “condotels,” which are condominium units that could be made available as hotel units above and beyond the 10 hotel units proposed.
The main issues that arose included the project’s two-year deadline and the lack of a clear penalty should that not be met.
“Ultimately, the biggest contention was that they gave me 12 months to get all of my permits and we just didn’t find that that’s realistic,” Benjamin Legare, representing Surf Break Hospitality, said on Tuesday.
He had similar issues with the two-year time limit.
“They gave us two years to build it and I was just asking, well what happens if I can’t get certificate of occupancy in two years, you know? It’s a $10 million project. So that was really the hold up this summer,” Legare said.
Overall, Legare said he is fine with the town’s decision, noting that it could have been risky for him if it had gone through.
“It just came down to timelines and what they wanted. Considering Big Block has taken like 10 years, I just have never seen anybody in the beach get a project of this size fully permitted and closed within 12 months. I was like, it’s just not physically possible,” Legare said.
Big Block Development Group’s One Oceanfront project, anticipated to cost approximately $190 million, was approved by the Conservation Commission during its Sept. 6 meeting only for it then to be appealed by an abutter in October.
The condominium/apartment complex would be located at the corner of Broadway and Oceanfront South and would see approximately 235 residential units in a five-story building, with 7,500 square feet of retail space included.
The project has been discussed in some shape or form for the last 20 years, with the current iteration beginning in 2015.
The project was most recently blocked this year by an appeal courtesy of Goddard Consulting LIC, with the organization requesting a superseding order of conditions on behalf of residents living at Ocean Echo Condominiums and Song of the Seas Condominiums.
Regarding sending out a new RFP for the former police station, Colburn said it is too soon to say anything concrete.
“But it’s going to be quick,” Colburn said.