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March 17, 2017

Inn at Vint Hill owners propose 110-room hotel

Photo/Vint Hill Village

The proposed hotel would share 5.5 acres with the Inn at Vint Hill.

Vint Hill needs the amenities to go with the tenants coming here. It makes sense for all of these nice things to come to fruition.

— Scott Donaldson, applicant

Vint Hill Hotel Project

• What: Special exception permit request to build a 110-room hotel.

• Where: 5.5 acres at 4200 Aiken Drive at Vint Hill near New Baltimore; parcel contains the Inn at Vint Hill.

• Property owners/applicants: Scott and Dawn Donaldson, owners and operators of the Inn at Vint Hill.

• Parking: 162 spaces, including 50 spaces used by the inn.

• Agency: Fauquier’s planning commission.

• Next: The application remains on hold because of several unresolved issues, according to Mr. Donaldson. Therefore, it could be months before the planning commission conducts a work session and public hearing on the project, he said.

• Website: vinthillvenue.com

By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Staff Journalist

They want to build a 110-room hotel at Vint Hill near New Baltimore.

Dawn and Scott Donaldson seek special exception permit approval from Fauquier’s board of supervisors for a two- to four-story hotel on 5.5 acres at 4200 Aiken Drive.

That parcel includes the Inn at Vint Hill, which the Donaldsons own and operate.

Their concept shows a 162-space parking lot fronting Aiken Drive and two potential hotel sites toward the lot’s rear.

The hotel could employ at least 30 full- and part-time workers, according to the Donaldsons, who bought the property in 2009.

Details about the size, scale and architecture still must be addressed, Mr. Donaldson said.

“We’re working through the (special exception) process,” he said.

Thus, it could be several months before Fauquier’s planning commission conducts a work session and public hearing on the project, Mr. Donaldson said.

The commission serves as an advisory panel to the board of supervisors, which also will hold a work session and a public hearing on the project before taking final action.

“It’s going to be unique and exciting for the county,” Mr. Donaldson said of the hotel proposal. “It’s not going to be a cookie-cutter. I’ve got feelers out to a number of hoteliers I have known from being in the business for over 25 years. They’re interested in doing something.”

With plans for a 120-bed veterans care center and a data center with related uses at Vint Hill, Mr. Donaldson believes those and others doing business at and near the former Army base will create the demand for a hotel.

Expected to cost about $48 million, the veterans care center will employ 150.

French-based OVH, which also will establish its North American headquarters at Vint Hill, provides dedicated servers, cloud storage, email and domain names to more than one million customers in data centers worldwide.

The company eventually expects to invest $150 million or more at Vint Hill and create at least 100 high-paying jobs, according to the company.

“Vint Hill needs the amenities to go with the tenants coming here,” Mr. Donaldson said. “It makes sense for all of these nice things to come to fruition. We’re finally getting the critical mass we need.”

“I think it’s a perfect use,” said Warrenton planning consultant Jim Carson, who prepared the hotel concept plan. “It will add to the travel and leisure mix you have started out there already.”

“I think it’s great,” Supervisor Holder Trumbo (Scott District) said of a hotel at Vint Hill. “It’s been discussed quite a few times over the years. I don’t see a downside. The devil’s in the details.

“If you’re going to be serious about business” development at Vint Hill, “you’ve got to have hospitality for conferences, meetings — that kind of thing.”