HATFIELD — A 35-room hotel and accessory self-storage units planned by a Northampton hotel management company for a Route 5 property are getting closer to realization.

A year after the project at 16 West St. was first proposed by Kirit Patel, who runs Shield Hotels, a development and management company with an office on King Street in Northampton, the Planning Board will begin a special permit hearing and site plan approval.

The hearing is scheduled for March 1 at 6:45 p.m. at Memorial Town Hall.

An application filed with the town states, “The proposed project would demolish the existing building at 16 West St. and construct a three-story hotel with roughly 6,200 square feet per floor and containing 35 guest rooms. As an accessory use, the project also proposes the construction of 20 self-storage units, located in two buildings along the north and south edge of the parking lot.”

The existing building on the site, used in recent years for offices, was originally constructed as a Howard Johnson Ice Cream Shop and Grille after World War II. In 1965, the restaurant, known for its 28 flavors of ice cream, became Les Shaw’s Pilgrim House.

Planners in February 2022 got an initial presentation from a representative of the Berkshire Design Group for the site a short distance from Exit 27 off Interstate 91, situated between Pioneer Valley Indoor Karting to the south and the Hatfield Inn motor lodge to the north. Patel offered more details about his plans last fall, calling the lodging a boutique hotel that would also feature 46 parking spaces.

Shield Hotels oversees seven properties in the region, including the Quality Inn & Suites in Northampton, the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Holyoke and the Hampton Inn & Suites in Greenfield, as well as hotels in West Springfield and Westfield, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and Colonie/ Albany, New York.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>