During a February 16th meeting of Plymouth Township’s zoning hearing board, the board voted 3-1 to grant a special exception that will allow Kingsbury Financial, the owner of the former DoubleTree Suites at 640 Fountain Road in Plymouth Meeting (Plymouth Township) to convert the 253 suite hotel into 213 apartments.

Over two meetings, the board members heard testimony from representatives of the applicant that a special exception should be granted due to apartments being the same general character as a hotel, especially an extended stay suite hotel, that is permissible within the Planned Office Park Zoning District.

The now approved conversion will bring 173 one-bedroom and 40 two-bedroom units to the former hotel building. The units would be 600 and 1,200 square feet, respectively. The interior hotel lobby and event spaces would be converted to serve as amenity areas for the residents. Nothing on the exterior of the property would change.

The applicant offered during the hearing that due to the amount it paid for the hotel in 2022 ($22,332,000), as hotels were distressed coming out of the pandemic, it would be able to offer the apartments at rates lower than nearby apartment communities. During the February 16th meeting, it provided a sheet that showed a one bedroom at the former hotel renting for $1,585 and a two-bedroom for $2,325. The averages at four existing apartment communities are $2,158.75 for a one bedroom and $2,710 for a two-bedroom.

Other common questions addressed by the applicant involved traffic, school-aged children/impact on schools, and the impact on the sewer system.

During the hearing, the applicant had a traffic expert testify that the traffic generated by the hotel and the proposed apartments would essentially be the same.

The applicant testified that there would absolutely be children within the apartment community, but the size of the units and the limited number of two-bedroom units, would likely result in few children.

The applicant provided data showing how much water was used when a hotel (waste water impacts the sewer) and the DEP standards for one and two-bedroom apartments. In 2025, the hotel used 154.52 gallons per occupied room per day. The DEP standard is an average of 109.38 gallons per unit per day.

The applicant also provided the board members a document that outlined the case law as evidence due to what courts have determined in the past regarding what meets the standard of the same general character to qualify for a special exception.

The only board member to vote no, Vince Frangiosa, offered when he cast his vote that he did not believe the conversion qualified for a special exception and worried about the impact on the township.

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