Smaller hotel plans advance

Continued from Page 1 larger project, which needs 90,000 square feet of contiguous space to create a planned overlay district, or POD. The designation would allow for more creativity and flexibility between the developer and city officials than building the project with a traditional site plan.

The developers own about 84,000 square feet at the former Phillips Beach Plaza property, but need roughly 6,000 square feet more to ac- commodate their plans. Initially, they were set to obtain it through a rightof-way along Baltimore Avenue. A petition for referendum filed in the fall nixed that approach, though, and essentially pushed the project back to square one.

The smaller project still calls for 257 rooms and 12 stories, but fits within the property the developers already own because of the new design and the elimination of some conference space and amenities.