Developers plan five-story hotel next to Rusty Rainbow in Bywater

A group of local developers is planning to build a five-story hotel with a rooftop bar and pool on a vacant lot right next to the Rusty Rainbow bridge on Chartres Street in the Bywater.

The Crescent Hotel, as it is called in plan documents filed with the city, will be operated by a major hotel chain like Marriot, Wyndam or Hilton, according to developer David Fuselier, and will have 24 apartments with a total of 88 bedrooms. Designed to be a hybrid short-term rental and hotel, it will have a full-service staff and front desk, restaurant and café.  

“All three of those brands are moving toward this apartment-style hotel model and they’re operated to a very high standard,” Fuselier said. “Whichever one we go with, we’re going to be their flagship. It’s going to be something special.”

But the project is raising concerns among some neighbors in the Bywater because of its height and its proximity to the iconic footbridge that crosses the railroad tracks at Crescent Park.

Current plans call for a 75-foot hotel, which is 20 feet higher than allowed along the Bywater riverfront under a 2019 zoning law. Now, the developers are seeking permission to build 4 feet higher while also sidestepping a requirement that upper floors be set back from the street.

“We were never happy about it,” said Julie Jones, president of the group Neighbors First for Bywater. “Now, it is bigger and taller, and they are asking to do away with the setbacks, which will cast a shadow on the street.”

Celebrating the Bywater

The controversy is the latest chapter in a years-long debate over the future of development along the one-time industrial strip of riverfront in the Bywater. As the artsy enclave has become increasingly popular with tourists and out of state investors, it has also become more expensive, and some fear its character is changing. Neighbors say they want to put guardrails in place to guide what future projects look like.

“We know riverfront development is inevitable,” said Brian Luckett, a longtime resident and neighborhood activist. “We just want it to be as minimally impactful as possible and we’re afraid if we get huge hotels or condos it is going to overwhelm the neighborhood.

Fuselier and his partner in the project, Patrick Schoen, have been working on the hotel since shortly after their 2015 purchase of the vacant weedy parcel on the upriver side of the Rusty Rainbow. They were delayed by the pandemic or might have been completed by now.  Fuselier declined to estimate the total cost of the project.

In response to neighborhood concerns, Fuselier said the hotel will not be "huge" or out of scale with the neighborhood, and he said it will not overwhelm the iconic footbridge but will “accentuate it.” He said he and his team have met with neighbors several times over the years and that the hotel will celebrate Bywater's character by featuring local musicians and showcasing the works of the works of local artists.

“All our artwork, whether visual, ceramic or coffee table books will be purchased from local artists,” he said

New law or old law?

While neighbors have been aware of the project since 2019, they say current plans are far different than the original ones, which, in early conceptual drawings filed with the city in 2019, depicted a 55-foot hotel with three floors.

The current plans also do not match plans the City Council unanimously approved for the project when they granted a conditional use permit in December 2019. That ordinance allowed a five-story, 71-foot high hotel but also required the developers to revise the plans to comply with the “height and setback requirements” of what was then a new zoning law limiting the height of buildings along the Bywater riverfront to 55 feet.

“We granted that conditional-use permit clearly with the understanding that the new (zoning rules) were in effect,” said Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who was on the City Council at the time and sponsored the ordinance for the hotel and the 2019 zoning changes. “The only reason the neighborhood was OK with the project was because the new design guidelines were in place.”

Instead, revised plans were approved by the City Planning Commission late last year for a 75-foot hotel. It is not clear how the change happened. A spokesperson for the Planning Commission said because the developers first applied for the project in June of 2019, the new zoning law sponsored by Gisleson Palmer had not taken effect yet.

Fuselier said the project was “grandfathered in” under the old zoning law, which did allow for 75-foot buildings along the Bywater riverfront and that "we were never going to build a 55-foot hotel." 

Consultant Zach Smith, who is representing the developers in the permitting process, said he was not at liberty to comment.

Luckett said neighbors are “floored” and confused.

“When was this height waiver granted?” he said. “This is development by stealth."

Litigation?

Fuselier said the project has been vetted and approved and that neighbors are simply mistaken. He said he believes there is widespread support for a project that will be a boon to the neighborhood. He said the developers are now asking for 4 additional feet because of changes to the type of building material they are using.

"Everyone I have spoken to is in favor of this project," Fuselier said. "They are excited to see a local artist-inspired hotel ... supporting the Crescent Park and surrounding businesses."

Luckett said there are questions that need answers. 

"If the City Council approves the height waivers they're seeking, I think there will be a lawsuit over this," he said. 

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct the last name of Julie Jones, president of Neighbors First for Bywater.)