Point Breeze must secure site by Friday
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Point Breeze Hotel owner Bob Matthews has until the end of the day Friday before construction work must cease for the summer.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent The pace and magnitude of construction has picked up this week at the Point Breeze

Matthews' project manager Nick Laudano and his island attorney, Sarah Alger, tried unsuccessfully to have the Planning Board grant a twoweek waiver to allow crews to finish install a steel building frame, lower the building onto its foundation, get it weather-tight and the site cleaned up.

Matthews' ultimate goal was to modify his special permit so that his crews could seal up the building over the summer and then begin work on the interior of the hotel. Special permit holders are prohibited from doing exterior work on projects in the downtown core district between June 15 and Sept. 15.

Laudono told the Planning Board at its Monday night meeting that Matthews wanted to make the building safe from being blown down during the summer and watertight to protect its historic interior.

"At this point, we are about 80 percent with our steel and getting our location to a safe-and-sound condition," said Laudono. "I think with the two weeks we could satisfy the board and get the site straightened up for the season, get it cleaned up."

Laudono added that making the building watertight would go a long way toward adhering to the Historic District Commission's certificate of appropriateness that requires Matthews to preserve as much of the old hotel as possible.

"We do need to get this building secure," he said. "It's been deteriorating over the last year because of weather."

Reconstruction of the Point Breeze stalled during the latter part of last winter and into this spring because Matthews stripped much of its sheathing and removed all of the first floor without a demolition permit from the HDC. Also, in early March, Building Inspector Bernie Bartlett issued Matthews a stopwork order for not filing complete plans with the Building Department.

Having secured his demolition permit and filing the correct plans, Matthews got permission to restart work just before Memorial Day Weekend.

But the Planning Board showed little sympathy for Matthews Monday night, challenging his claims of an unsafe building.

"I, for one, hate to see any construction in that area June 15 through Sept. 15," said Planning Board Chairman Frank Spriggs.

Planning Board Alternate Member Charity Benz said she feared that if the board granted Matthews' request he would not get all the work done by June 30.

"With all due respect for your presentation, I've heard a lot of 'hopefullies,' and I don't think you know if you can get this project done in that time," she said.

After several comments from neighbors of the project - all in agreement with the summer no-work rule - the board closed the public hearing and voted 5-0 to deny Matthews' request.

On May 24, Matthews announced that he is converting the Point Breeze into a private club with its 32 rooms to be sold as condominiums costing roughly $1 million to $3 million each. The Point Breeze will still operate as a hotel, but the rooms themselves, most of them being renovated as suites, would be owned individually. Their owners would decide when they would occupy their condo suites and when they would be open to island visitors seeking lodging.

Matthews got a Planning Board special permit in July 2005 to renovate the existing hotel building, including the reconstruction of the original hotel as a 4,091-square-foot addition.

Additionally, Matthews' crews will be connecting the addition, main building and restaurant with a terrace with 14 parking spaces beneath it, and a new swimming pool behind the hotel. Phase two, not entirely permitted yet, includes three tennis courts where the cottages are now along Easton Street, with a 49-space parking

garage beneath it. I