The latest application for the project at the Lenox, Mass., property added enhancements for the historic property’s mansion, reduced the footprint of the new buildings by 5,000 sq. ft., and added parking and a new terrace. The project is expected to be complete by May 2019, and the resort will remain open throughout construction.
Now that Zoning Board of Appeals in Lenox, Mass., has approved a revised special permit, it’s full speed ahead for the Hyatt/Miraval’s $80 million project to renovate and expand the Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort, the Pittsfield, Mass., Berkshire Eagle reported.
The company’s recent application sought changes to spotlight and enhance the historic property’s mansion. It also calls for a 5,000-sq. ft. reduction in the footprint of new buildings at the resort, the Eagle reported.
Under the revised plan, the mansion no longer will serve as a check-in center for guests, as originally outlined in the special permit approved by the ZBA in May 2016, according to attorney F. Sydney Smithers IV of Cain, Hibbard & Myers, which represents Hyatt Hotel Corp.’s MRG CRW Holdings LLC, the Eagle reported.
“The mansion is going to revert to its historic purpose with 11 hotel rooms, fine dining, entertainment and event space,” Smithers told ZBA members. “It will not be used for registration and will no longer be a reception center.”
C&RB reported on the project’s growing price tag in September. The cost has since grown from $60 million to $80 million.
The Miraval Group completed its $22 million purchase of Cranwell last January. Construction is expected to be in full swing early next year, with estimated completion by May 1, 2019, according to Chevis Hosea, the Miraval Group’s senior vice president for construction and development. The resort will remain open during the expansion project, the Eagle reported.
The revised permit also calls for additional parking nearby to accommodate guests for fine dining, weddings and other special events. Another improvement will be a conservatory glass installation atop the south-facing mansion terrace. Also, a new terrace will be constructed and an elevator will be installed. Two new guest cottages no longer will be connected by an enclosed pedestrian walkway from the mansion, the Eagle reported.
Guests will register at the Olmsted Manor building, which will have a new entrance court and “a colonnade to make it more appealing,” Smithers said.
Compared with the special permit originally approved by the ZBA, the new plan includes a significant reduction in the size of a new spa and a downsizing of the new Mindfulness and Wellbeing Center, he noted. The revised permit makes no change in the total number of hotel rooms previously proposed—148, an increase of 43 over the current total, the Eagle reported.
A bypass lane is being added to the resort entrance. “The owners felt that we were going to be such a huge success with so many Miraval guests that they didn’t want to wait in line behind them,” Smithers said.
The west side of the campus includes a new maintenance building, a golf activity center, a golf cart storage structure, parking as approved last year and a pathway to a new tunnel for golfers and their carts. State approval of the tunnel is pending, the Eagle reported.
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