The town will host a public meeting with the developer of the Hadley Hotel to review schematic plans on Monday, September 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Swampscott High School.

In 2024, the Select Board voted to enter into a land development agreement with Delamar Hotels to design and develop a boutique hotel at the former Hadley Elementary School location, at 24 Redington St. The school closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year when the town consolidated its elementary schools into the new Swampscott Elementary School.

In 2023, Pinnacle Advisory Group conducted a comprehensive market-demand study for the proposed hotel, finding that the “site is suitable for hotel development” with “good walkable amenities such as restaurants, bars and other retail.”

The Delamar proposal was selected in February of 2024 from among three finalists. The Response for Proposal (RFP) envisioned a hotel that would also include a dedicated restaurant, spa, meeting and event spaces. Guest rooms were to be split between the school building and the annex building, with the former principal’s office, nurse’s office and administrative office becoming the hotel lobby.

“For those of you who were involved with the RFP, these plans won’t look a whole lot different,” Dixon Mallory, director of business development, told the Select Board at its September 17 meeting.

Mallory presented schematic plans to the Select Board that were “pretty much in line” with the original proposal. 

The building’s facade won’t change much, Mallory said, aside from some repairs. 

“The major changes to the facade will be new windows throughout the entire building,” Mallory said. “The windows that we’re contemplating throughout aesthetically match the windows that were put on the building in 1910-11 when it was constructed.”

An elevator and stair tower will be added to both the main building and the annex to ensure ADA compliance.

“That’s really the only new construction on the exterior of the building that we’ll be completing,” Mallory said. 

Mallory said the number of rooms will depend on how many suites are included, estimating between 56 and 59 total.

A bar and pub area will be set up where the former science room was located. The existing mechanical room will be turned into an à la carte dining space. The gym will remain “sort of untouched” and  will serve as the hotel’s ballroom, according to Mallory. 

Delamar is currently in its due diligence phase, according to Chair Katie Phelan. The Select Board has 20 days from when the schematic design was presented to approve it. Because of Yom Kippur, the Select Board will not meet on October 1 and Phelan indicated the board would request “a little leeway.”

“That doesn’t really stop our schedule on the back end,” Mallory said. “We’re moving forward as per the LDA.”

Delamar has 15 months to secure all permits and financing, according to Phelan. Delamar must “execute the ground lease” within 15 months of the due diligence period, Phelan said.

Once the lease begins, Delamar is expected to complete about 50% of the project within one year.