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January 04, 2007 | The News Journal
Landmark Wilmington inn expected to be sold
A Rehoboth Beach real estate developer expects to finalize a sales agreement this week to buy the landmark Columbus Inn property on Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington as the site for a $30 million luxury condominium building.
Ocean Atlantic Associates 1789 LLC, whose partners include Preston A. Schell of Rehoboth Beach, David Grayson of Wilmington and Nick Hammonds of Rehoboth Beach, did not disclose the price for the approximately 1-acre tavern parcel. But terms of the deal call for Columbus Inn owner Davis G. Sezna to become a minority partner in the 10-story building project.
The project calls for the Columbus Inn restaurant to be shut down this summer and converted to a private club for the use of the condominium residents, said Hammonds, who is the nephew of Bruce L. Hammonds, president of Bank of America Card Services in Wilmington.
Sezna already has scaled back the restaurant operation to the original 1789 tavern, which seats 48 people. The inn is now open for dinner only. The downsizing of the original 150-seat full-service operation took effect on New Year's Eve, Sezna said. The staff has been cut from about 50 employees to about 10 people, he said.
The project still needs subdivision approval from the city, according to Pamela J. Scott, the attorney for Sezna. The property is zoned to accommodate the proposed 10-story building, Scott said. A hearing before the city Planning Commission is scheduled for Jan. 16.
If city approvals are granted, construction could begin this summer, Schell said. The condominium apartments would sell from $499,900 for a two-bedroom unit to more than $1.5 million for a top-floor penthouse. The building would hold 60 condominiums.
Schell said the restaurant must be shuttered to satisfy concerns among neighbors that a restaurant and condominium building would generate too much traffic and parking on neighborhood streets.
"Their concerns were legitimate," said Schell, whose group of companies, including Schell Bros., has been involved in high-end residential development in Sussex County since 1997.
Schell also said it was unclear if it was feasible to have a restaurant sharing the same parking garage with luxury condominiums.
City Councilman Paul F. Ignudo Jr. said the neighbors are concerned about the potential for congestion at Woodlawn and Pennsylvania avenues. He said the community plans to review the proposal.
"I'm not sure that closing the restaurant will ease their concerns regarding traffic. Whether it physically eases the traffic, it may or may not. I've never been presented evidence one way or the other," Ignudo said. "When you talk to the community about the restaurant, they like it."
The project will have parking for 125 cars.
James A. Tevebaugh, president of Tevebaugh Associates, the architect on the project, said the design took some cues from luxury developments in downtown Philadelphia. The building will have a variety of condominiums, including ground-level units
All the units will have smaller, European-style balconies. The apartments will have 10-foot ceilings to allow for bigger window areas, more natural light, greater wall space and more drama, Tevebaugh said.
The condo interiors will be handled by Echelon Custom Homes, a Schell company that has been building luxury homes priced at more than $1 million in Delaware's high-end resort communities, including The Peninsula on the Indian River Bay.
The exterior design will have details to blend in with the residential character of the neighborhood.
"In that particular part of Wilmington, traditional is more sensitive for a 10-story building -- rather than something all glass or shockingly contemporary," Tevebaugh said. "Wilmington likes traditional."
Schell expects the first residents to begin moving in during the summer of 2008.
Sezna, who once controlled a hospitality empire in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, is converting a dining room on the first floor of the Columbus Inn into a wine store.
Sezna's father, Walter W. "Wally" Sezna, an area golfing personality, bought the historic Columbus Inn in the mid-1950s.
"When I look at my dad's gravestone, I know he's smiling," Sezna said. "My father would probably feel I should have done it five years ago."
Contact Maureen Milford at 324-2881 or mmilford@delawareonline.com.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The project needs subdivision approval from the city, according to attorney Pamela J. Scott. A hearing before the Planning Commission is scheduled for Jan. 16.
