By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
City planners approved a site plan Tuesday for a four-story, 95-room hotel and a 239-seat restaurant next to it at East Innes Street and Interstate 85.
Michael Kelley, of Kelley Austin Properties of Winston-Salem, submitted the plans.
Ed Zotian, a consultant working for Kelley Austin Properties, declined Tuesday to name the hotel interested in the site but indicated the developer is close to finalizing a deal.
Likewise, no specific company has been mentioned for the proposed 7,135-square-foot restaurant.
The developer submitted drawings of both the hotel and restaurant to the Salisbury Planning Board but cautioned they were only illustrative of the type of buildings planned for the site.
The hotel drawing, for example, showed five stories, not four.
The plans call for the street into the site to be extended past the Verizon Wireless store and Blue Bay restaurant to a cul-de-sac serving both the new hotel and restaurant.
The site used to be home to a Waffle House, another restaurant and an economy hotel ó all of which have been removed.
The Planning Board voted 7-0 for the site plan, which included a subdivision of the property into two parcels ó one for the hotel and one for the restaurant.
The planners said they liked the plans for a tree-lined street leading to the development, the sidewalks and a connection at the rear of the property to the Cracker Barrel high above the site.
Attorneys for the owner of the Verizon Wireless store and Blue Bay properties have been meeting with the developer. The Verizon store will lose one of its driveways close to East Innes Street so a wider turning radius can be installed.
The improved street, with its trees and sidewalk, also will mean the loss of nine parking spaces for Blue Bay. The spaces lie on the Kelley Austin site.
The Planning Board also approved a site plan Tuesday for a new dental office for Dr. Steve Yang.
The 3,400-square-foot office will be constructed at 2290 Statesville Blvd. across from Godley’s Garden Center and between the Kangaroo gas station and Maranatha Bible Church.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.