Plans underway to convert part of former Inn at Reading to studio apartments

Keith Dmochowski, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·2 min read
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May 24—Plans are underway for the first phase of a project to turn the former Inn at Reading into a mixed-use apartment complex.

The 10.8 acre Wyomissing property was purchased in March by developer Mike Chevrock of The Flats at 1040 LLC for $7 million, according to county records.

The hotel closed in March and about 15 to 20 long-term residents were vacated prior to the start of demolition.

That demolition is progressing, but it doesn't apply to the developer's immediate plan, which is to convert two of the former hotel's wings into studio apartments, said Wyomissing Mayor Fred Levering.

"At the end, the hotel kind of devolved, they were renting out rooms for people to live in," Levering said. "(Developers) are going to fix up, clean up, improve to whatever extent is necessary those former hotel rooms."

The hotel wing next to the Exxon gas station at N. Park Road and Spring Street — and another wing perpendicular to that one, near the corner of Spring and N. Sixth streets — will be kept intact and reconfigured into studio apartments if developers can secure zoning relief, Levering said.

A conditional use hearing will determine whether developers can have apartment buildings without a retail use on the first floor, according to Levering.

"I don't expect (conditional use approval) to be challenging for them to get," Levering said.

After converting the hotel wings, developers aim to approach the planning commission and borough council with plans for a new apartment building and retail space in the area currently being demolished, behind the hotel wing at Spring and N. Sixth Street, Levering said.

Following that will be a demolition of the front end of the hotel, where the lobby and ballroom were, and construction of another apartment building.

"It's going to be done in steps, it's going to take a while," Levering said. "That's just the nature of these things."

He said a ballpark estimate would see construction on the first new apartment building starting in about a year.

Levering noted that developers everywhere are grappling with high interest rates and rising construction costs.

"To make it affordable, you want to make a decent down payment, to make a decent down payment you need some cash flow," Levering said. "So (developers) are going to do these two wings, convert them, create some cash flow and then move on to their construction."

The conditional use hearing on the proposal to refinish the former hotel wings will take place June 6 at 9:30 a.m. at Wyomissing borough hall.