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North Franklin supervisors approve two hotel projects

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North Franklin Township supervisors Tuesday approved building permits for two hotels that will be constructed behind Washington Crown Center mall.

The supervisors unanimously issued the permits to the developers, United Washington Associates and North Franklin Associates, following a public hearing on the plan and previous recommendations of approval from the township planning commission and zoning hearing board for the hotels at Washington Square.

“They are compatible with everything else that has been done at Washington Square,” said Greg W. Banner, supervising engineer for the projects.

Construction should begin this summer on the hotels along Trich Drive near Advanced Surgical Hospital. Each will be four stories tall and contain 100 rooms on 2.5-acre parcels of property.

They are expected to open in early summer 2015, Banner said.

The hotel projects that were announced in early March have yet to be named and are a response to the need for beds for those who work in the booming Marcellus Shale natural gas industry.

The zoning variances the developers needed involved such issues as lighting, sidewalks and setbacks.

In other business, the township will proceed with obtaining a $250,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development for engineering work on the trail project next to the hotels and the nearby Consol Energy Park.

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