Knox Hotel owners in Princeton plan grand entrance

Couple seeks city council approval for canopied lobby entrance on Long Street

PRINCETON — As part of their renovation plans, the owners of the Knox Hotel hope to add a grand lobby entrance on Long Street.

Dane and Kelsey Stier on Monday shared a proposal with Princeton City Council for a planned lobby entrance that would require the city’s approval before they can proceed.

The Stiers, who are renovating the Knox building into a hotel, conference space and retail space, hope to reconfigure the sidewalk on Long Street on the north side of the building to make a handicapped accessible entrance into the the lobby. They also want to add a canopy overhead that would extend about 17 feet over the street. Once completed, the renovated building will have 13 hotel rooms, a 100-person event center and three retail spaces on the first floor.

Dane Stier said the lack of parking and handicapped accessible spaces on Main Street means the Long Street entrance into the lobby makes the most sense. Without it, guests of the hotel would have to access the hotel via retail spaces.

“Visually, it would add to Rotary Park and the depot area, attracting attention,” Dane said.

The Stiers said their proposed plan would eliminate six parking spots on Long Street, but suggested those sacrificed spots could potentially be made up by adding angle parking in front of the building on Main Street.

The Stiers told council members they showed their plans to surrounding business owners who may be affected by the loss of those spots, and said they were met with a positive response.

“They find it’s a valuable trade-off, because it would attract people to their businesses,” he said.

The Stiers said their plans should allow Long Street to remain open for two-way traffic and they would make an agreement with the city to make sure city plows would be able to cleanly access the front of the property for snow removal.

If approved, they hope to revamp the entrance late next summer or early fall.