In a change of plans first publicly presented this week, a developer is now looking to build a hotel in Oak Bluffs at the location of the beloved, now demolished Ocean View restaurant. A restaurant will no longer be part of the proposal, at least one that is accessible to non-hotel guests.
Plans for a nearly 30-room hotel submitted by property owner Charles Hajjar to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, is a change from a 2023 proposal to rebuild the restaurant along with 10 new apartments. That was pitched following the demolition of the building that was destroyed by fire in 2022.
On Monday, the applicants presented the commission’s Land Use Planning Committee with a proposal to construct an 18,543-square-foot, three-story Victorian-style seasonal hotel that will include three workforce-housing units in the basement, along with 26 rooms.
The new proposal came as a disappointment to local business owner Michael Santoro, who had leased the property for the Ocean View restaurant. The proposal does include an eatery, but it would be exclusively for lodgers — with a menu consisting of “light bites” like cheese boards, as described by the applicants.
“I’ve been moving forward all along thinking this will be a restaurant,” Santoro told the Times, saying had even spent money on architectural plans. He said he was “disappointed” the new proposal doesn’t include the Ocean View.
At Monday’s meeting, the project’s attorney, Cass Luskin, said that the reason for shifting the plan to a hotel was financial.
“It was not very much money,” Luskin said. Additionally, he said the building was “somewhat underinsured” partially because of its older design. Luskin also said there has been a rise in interest rates and construction costs, something he expects to worsen with tariffs.
Robert Moriarty, Santoro’s attorney, said on Tuesday his client had continued paying for his Oak Bluffs licenses, like liquor and entertainment, since the fire; the lease expires in 2034, with an option for an extension. Moriarty also said they’re hoping to negotiate with Hajjar to bring the Ocean View back to the location.
Santoro isn’t the only one disappointed about the lack of an Ocean View in the proposal. The restaurant is an establishment that many people on the Vineyard hold fond memories of. That includes Jim Reidy, who owns a home on Chapman Avenue abutting the restaurant. Reidy told The Times that the Ocean View was the first restaurant his wife Deborah Reidy, a fourth-generation Islander, took him to on Martha’s Vineyard on Thanksgiving, decades ago. It was also a restaurant he frequented while working on the Chapman Avenue house they purchased nearly 30 years ago, which didn’t have a kitchen at the time.
“I ate at the Ocean View every lunch and dinner, and I had breakfast at Linda Jean’s,” he said.
During the meeting, Luskin said while Islanders have been looking forward to the Ocean View restaurant returning, there were several concerns raised by neighbors that the hotel plan addresses, including reducing noise, traffic congestion, and parking. He also said there would be fewer people driving under the influence of alcohol. Additionally, Luskin highlighted that changing the proposal from a restaurant to a hotel cuts the wastewater needs by around half.
Santoro contested Luskin’s point about noise to The Times, saying he “never had issues” with neighbors, and had a good relationship with them.
The hotel would also feature an outdoor pool and a fire pit. Additionally, the developer is looking to purchase an adjacent wooded lot owned by the East Chop Association to install a dumpster and construct a 16-space parking lot, six of which would be on the newly bought land. The current parking spaces along Wayland Avenue and Chapman Avenue would be eliminated.
The proposal would be a return to an older iteration of the property, and Luskin said it also aligns with the Oak Bluffs master plan goal to revitalize Victorian-style hotels in the town. According to a commission staff presentation, the Ocean View was a hotel from the 19th century until 1965, when it was destroyed in a fire. A restaurant was built at the location after that fire, before the most recent blaze.
Peter Gearhart, an architect from Oak Bluffs–based firm Sullivan + Associates, who designed the proposed hotel, said on Monday measures would be implemented to protect the building from fires, like a full sprinkler system and two fire hydrants at Wayland Avenue and Chapman Avenue.
Although seasonal, Luskin said the plan is to hire Islanders and use the workforce units for the hotel’s commuting workers.
“We’re exploring options to make that workforce housing available to other Island employers during the winter, when the hotel is closed,” Luskin said, saying potential options included Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and Vineyard Wind.
Gearhart also said while concerns have been raised over the size of the building, the size of the proposed project is smaller than what was previously at the location. Additionally, the proposed hotel is 13,639-square-feet excluding the basement, which Gearhart highlighted as the actual size people would be seeing from the street.
Some abutters are irate about the size and height of the building, and Reidy said on Tuesday this was the real issue for neighbors, more than the other aspects Luskin listed during the meeting.
“That building is humongous,” said Reidy, who also led a petition against Hajjar’s first proposal for the Ocean View location. “It’s going to be a battle, but we’re going to fight until the very end.”
Reidy said he only found out about the plan on Friday after checking the commission’s calendar, and he has heard from many neighbors upset about the hotel plans, especially without the restaurant many of them loved.
On Monday, planning committee members raised several issues, including a need for a closer look at the traffic that may be produced by rideshare services, the amount of light produced by the hotel, and the types of food and alcohol served.
Committee members also asked for images showing the streetscape with the three-story hotel, and how it would look to an abutter. Additionally, the project would need input from the Oak Bluffs Historical Commission and the Copeland Plan Review Committee, which oversees the cultural protection of the area.
A public hearing before the full commission hasn’t been set yet, and staff say the nearest date is likely to be in June. The planning committee members unanimously approved commission transportation planner Mike Mauro to conduct an in-house traffic study, but took no other vote on the proposed hotel.
Workforce housing. In the basement. Sad. The whole thing looks like a bait and switch.
Not often I agree with Carla but this is a good place to start. Workforce housing should be year-round and not seasonal and should not be in the dungeon. It should also have public spaces for workforce to gather in and not just a bedroom and a bathroom. This is another developer with way too much density going on a small property I would add the Island does not even need another hotel. Show me the data where it says we’re short rooms other than maybe a few weeks out of the year. In fact, ask any rental agent and they will tell you there is an abundance of rentals available this year.
The Restaurant was opened year round and had wonderful food, many property owners that came off season were happy to have a place to eat at reasonable prices. We already have a hotel in OB and many other smaller accommodations, the Ocean View Restaurant is needed
I’m hoping the East Chop Association does not sell them the land.
There is absolutely nothing in this proposal that comes even near what was there before. The Ocean View was a Beloved year round restaurant reasonably sized to be in a residential neighborhood, offering home cooked meals, community, friendship, warm hospitality for the neighbors and year round community. This hotel is an enormous resource and energy user, blocking light and views for the neighbors, more people more noise, more pavement and parking, no restaurant, no benefit to the neighbors or the year round community, summer apartments in the basement for “commuters”, hotel rooms for summer people, overuse of the property, exploitation of Martha’s Vineyard resort community, exploitation and greedy use of land space. We feel very sorry that the MV Commission has to deal with this obtrusive and ostentatious hotel design proposal.
This proposal is so unfair and unthoughtful of the neighbors.
This is a small cottage neighborhood historically owned by generations of families. The MVC has shown with other decisions that it cares about neighbors. I trust that in their decision here the Commission members will prioritize the neighbors’ future quality of life, property values and the long history of enjoyment these families have had with friends in their beloved cottages and neighborhood.
I agree. Thank you!
This is more mass scale commercialization and overbuild of the island. Last week there was an article on a single family mansion in Chilmark that has structures totaling 12,000 square feet on 5 acres. That owner wants to turn the property into an annual function hall for a commercial event for 600 people. This week is this article on a proposed hotel that is a smaller version of the Harborview Hotel to replace a simple restaurant that served year round islanders well over decades. Please make it stop.