Board clears boutique-hotel footprint variance and strikes room-count condition for Museum Drive project

The Mobile City Board of Adjustments approved several variances for a proposed boutique hotel at 720 Museum Drive, including a footprint variance for a building the applicant says will be about 22,408 square feet, and the board removed a staff condition (No. 3) that would have tied the prior hotel-use approval to a specific room count.

Kathy Sherman, speaking for Museum Partners, told the board the project seeks five variances and that the hotel footprint exceeds the 20,000-square-foot threshold. "It's it's 22408 is what we're proposing," she said. She said the project team has advanced engineering, landscaping, photometric and traffic work and expects to return with detailed site-plan elements once a brand and program level are identified.

Jennifer Tremaine, a board member of the Village of Spring Hill neighborhood association, said the neighborhood association "fully support[s] the variances requested and ask[s] for your approval to advance this project," noting two years of collaboration with the developer.

Board and staff discussion centered on whether the previous use variance (for hotel use) had been limited to an approximate unit count referenced in an earlier application (87 ±); staff said the original approval was for hotel use generally and not unit-specific. The board voted to strike condition No. 3 and approved the variances "subject to findings of fact," with staff and the applicant agreeing that the prior use approval covered hotel use without an exact room-limit.

The board was told the current use variance for hotel use is valid until November of the stated year; the applicant said that schedule works with their plans.

What’s next: The applicant will return with more detailed site-plan materials (brand, unit count, restaurant program) as the project advances; the board’s approval addresses the footprint and related variances but does not fix a final unit count.