APA Public Information Officer Keith McKeever said the hotel developers needed a permit from the APA because the planned hotel exceeds 40 feet in height. Developers will replace the old structure of 73 units with a new building of 185 units that is 53 feet in height, according to the APA’s website. The developers’ initial application to the North Elba-Lake Placid Review Board showed plans for 191 rooms.

The development was approved for conditional use by the review board for the first time in January 2020. The project went before the board two more times this year to get approval for rebranding and structure changes in April, and for a proposed blasting schedule in July.

The hotel will be Cambria-branded, under the Choice Hotels group that includes Quality, Comfort, Sleep, Clarion, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands.

The APA held a public comment period for the development and received one comment. Wildwood on the Lake Resident Manager Stuart Hemsley asked the APA for more details about the development’s schedule.

“Our summer was long and difficult with little to no regard to our paying guests with work starting at 7 a.m., if not before, five days a week during our peak season,” he wrote.

The old 73-unit building was removed during the 2021 construction season, and all site blasting has been completed, according to APA Environmental Program Specialist Devan Korn, who presented the project at the agency’s Thursday meeting.

The APA drafted its permit for the project with conditions, mainly that the development be undertaken in compliance with approved plans and adhere to local noise ordinances. North Elba Code Enforcement Officer Michael Orticelle said on Dec. 9 that the project would probably have to reappear before the review board with an updated schedule after approval from the APA. Right now, he said, he’s not sure if the project is supposed to start construction at the beginning of 2022 as anticipated.

This hotel rebuild was awarded $3 million in state funding through the Regional Economic Development Council awards in 2019.

In the past, representatives of the development company have estimated this will be a $35 million rebuild.