A LANDMARK Stonehaven hotel is to be converted into 16 flats, with eight additional townhouses, under plans unveiled this week.
A public exhibition was staged by consultants Knight Frank on the future of the former St Leonard's Hotel, at the community centre on Tuesday.
The site has been purchased by Kirkwood Homes Limited and the company intends to submit a planning applic
ation in late July or early August.
It is now seeking feedback from residents on the design proposed, which would see the core of the hotel remain and large new extensions added.
The residential development would include 16 flats, each with two bedrooms, and eight town houses, with three or four bedrooms.
The extensions would be to the north and along the Bath Street elevation and would be between two and a half and three and a half stories in height.
Project manager Allan Rae said the properties would be "of modern design and scaled to fit with the existing building."
He said the design aspect and the loss of the hotel as an amenity had been the biggest areas of concern to members of the public.
"We had a good turn out with 80 people through the doors by the close of play and mixed responses, as you would expect," he added.
"Some people are against the idea of the change of use, others have been supportive of the process and said they would be interested in the properties when complete. It is a fantastic site with huge potential."
He said that Kirkwood Homes had already bought the site and were considering it for residential development only. He added that the hotel had failed to attract interest as a going concern.
There has been much discussion within the community about the loss of the St Leonard's for its overnight accommodation and conference facilities.
But Mr Rae said that their remit involved only the design elements of the proposed residential development.
"It is a good quality traditional building and the question is do you go for a traditional look to match and risk getting it wrong, or go for something sympathetic in scale with a modern approach?
"We have had a lot of comments about that and it is quite a subjective issue. The key is to provide something simple and crisp that doesn't detract from the core building."
He said the feedback from questionnaires handed out at the event would be analysed over the coming weeks and any appropriate amendments made to the plans before they are submitted to the council for consideration.
