Large renovation planned for Rehoboth’s Beach View Hotel

Rehoboth Beach-based Seaboard Hospitality LLC is proposing a top-to-bottom revitalization of its Beach View Hotel on Wilmington Avenue in Rehoboth Beach.

Local attorney David Hutt presented plans to the city’s planning commission during a special meeting Nov. 21. Hutt said the 40-year-old hotel needs to be updated and brought into modern times.

In some form or fashion, family-run Seaboard Hospitality has been operating in Rehoboth since the mid-1900s on properties that are now known as the Avenue Inn & Spa and Cooper Cottages. The company also owns and operates Atlantic View Hotel in Dewey Beach.

The 38-room Beach View Hotel was built in 1980. Hutt said plans call for all the existing rooms to be updated and modernized, with a number of family-style suites created. Additionally, he said, there would be an expansion of the employee area, and the building would be brought into compliance with modern handicap-accessibility requirements.

To help address vehicular flow on the property, and on the streets of Wilmington and Delaware avenues, the plans call for changing the traffic pattern to one-way, with cars entering on Wilmington, said Hutt.

Architect Jeff Schoellkopf, who has worked with Seaboard Hospitality on a number of projects, including the Avenue Inn & Spa project, was also on hand to provide information. It’s 80% a restoration project of enclosed space, he said.

As proposed, there would be two family suites added to the eastern side of the property, with an outdoor common area on top of those suites that would act as amenity space, said Schoellkopf. The two additional rooms would be created without adding to the total number of rooms because some of the existing rooms would be made larger, he said.

As proposed, the renovation will need at least two variances from the board of adjustment.

The first is related to floor-to-area ratio, which would be needed in large part because of a proposed expansion to the pool deck, which counts twice against the gross floor area. The expansion is in the center of the block and doesn’t really affect any of the neighboring properties, said Schoellkopf. 

Hutt said the existing hotel is under the city’s code-mandated floor-to-area ratio of 2, but with the pool deck and family suites, it would be 2.53.

The project also calls for a 5-foot-tall parapet added to the top of the hotel for decoration. This is likely to need a variance too. The hotel is built straight up from the property line, which is allowed in the commercial district. However, current city code calls for floors above 14 feet to be set back 30 degrees, which isn’t currently the case for the Beach View because it was built before that code was put in place. If anything is done to the roofline, it will likely need a variance, said Schoellkopf.

The issue that caused the most discussion is a narrow strip of land on the Delaware Avenue side of the property that has been used commercially for decades, but is marked as residential on the city’s zoning map.

Hutt said he thought it was simply a mapping error.

City Solicitor Max Walton, representing the city’s building department, seemed to confirm the error when he pointed out that the strip of land is marked commercial in the city’s comprehensive development plan.

Hutt laid out a projected timeline that has approvals from the planning commission, board of adjustment and the city’s building department in place by the end of next summer. With those in hand, he said, the hotel would close for the fall and winter months, and then reopen in time for the 2026 season.

Being a concept review, comments from the planning commission were limited following the presentation, but they were generally receptive.

“Refreshing,” said Planning Commissioner Susan Stewart.

Planning Commissioner Jim Ellison said, notwithstanding the issues related to variances, he applauded the effort.