By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Plans for a luxury hotel and restaurant on the property of the defunct Westport Inn, with a wing of rental units, were unveiled to the Architectural Review Board on Tuesday.

The proposal won a positive reaction from board members.

Designed in a “New England style” of architecture, the new “Delamar Westport” will be run by the Greenwich Hospitality Group, whose nearby Delamar Southport hotel was recently named one of the top 25 hotels in the country by Trip Advisor, and the only one in Connecticut to earn the citation.

Locally, the hotel group also manages the Inn at Longshore and its restaurant, La Plage.

Smaller hotel envisioned, plus housing units

The new hotel proposed at 1595 Post Road East, however, will include not only hotel rooms, but rental units complete with hotel services, architect Bruce Beinfield told ARB members. 

The updated plan — initially revealed last October — calls for 41 hotel rooms, 10 rental units with garages, he said, and a full cosmetic makeover of the part of the building facing the Post Road.

The Westport Inn closed during the pandemic, and was slated to reopen after about a year, but remained shuttered last fall.

The local landmark, which had been in business since the 1960s, had nearly 120 guest rooms at the time it was shuttered.

The 3.8-acre property was sold for $5 million on Nov. 4, 2020, to WI Associates LLC, 265 Post Road West, according to the town Assessor’s Vision Appraisal data base. 

“Westport does not have a lot of hotel space; people don’t want to see it lost,” Rick Redniss, of Redniss & Mead, a Stamford land-use firm, told the ARB. “We’re happy to say it won’t be lost.” 

Besides adding rental units and refurbishing the hotel space, a new outdoor pool, restaurant and exterior dining area and lounge also will be added, planners said.

Plans get warm reception

ARB members, who recommend approval or rejection of projects to the Planning and Zoning Commission, liked the plan.

The project still faces a formal review by the P&Z, which will make the final decision.

“The New England style is a real plus,” ARB member Charlie McMillan told the developers. “I think it’s a nice addition to the town.”

Jon Halper agreed. “It’s a beautifully, well executed, nicely refined and restrained project, and I hope it stays that way,” he said.

The developers and architects considered many different designs, according to Beinfield, including a more contemporary look for the building’s exterior. 

“Looking at the architecture of the commercial district of Westport, some modernist revisions … are successful and some less so,” he said. “We backed off going more abstract and contemporary. We wanted to stay true to the basic forms of vernacular New England architecture.”

“Affordable” housing planned off site

The developer also plans to include affordable units as part of the overall project, under the state’s 8-30g statute that gives an applicant greater flexibility if 10 percent of a town’s housing stock is not considered “affordable” by state criteria. 

But that housing will be provided off site, Redniss said, at a location to be determined. 

Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.