An entrepreneurial couple – a dermatologist and an architect – from South Orange have received municipal approval to convert an 1860 Federal Style homestead just south of Lambertville into a luxury boutique hotel and restaurant.
The 10-suite Quarry House Inn and 17-seat restaurant on River Road (Route 29) in West Amwell Township will neighbor one of their other ventures, Big Bear Gear, which sells clothing and rents bicycles and kayaks from a converted barn.
They also own Bellemont Farm, about a mile away, which will provide farm-to-table produce to the restaurant.
The property is across Route 29 from the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park trail and the Delaware River beyond the trail.
This summer, the West Amwell Township Land Use Board granted a use variance and approved the preliminary and final site plan by 1872 River Road LLC, and memorialized its decision with a resolution in September.
Dr. Michael Ehrenreich, medical director of SOMA Skin & Laser, and his wife, Rebecca Gelman of Gelman Architecture, own the three ventures in the Lambertville area, a tourism magnet.
“We’re going to preserve some historic details, and you’ll get a sense of place, but it’ll feel modern and renovated,” Ehrenreich told Jersey Digs in an interview.
Ehrenreich said the idea to open a luxury boutique hotel developed after he and Gelman vacationed in a motor lodge converted into a chic hotel in Maine.
“You know, why don’t we do something like that?” he remembers saying to his wife.
The following year they vacationed at a similar converted motor lodge in Cape May and “paid a lot of money for it.”
They started looking for properties and found the 7.4-acre one near Lambertville. West Amwell approved a similar project the couple proposed (calling it “The General’s Retreat”) for the property about eight years ago, but the pandemic delayed execution, he said.
Eight of the hotel rooms will be in the house, and two will be in the carriage barn.
The first phase of the project includes renovation of the carriage barn and a 1,513-square-foot expansion of the house, according to plans filed with the Township. Phase two includes a 1,252-square-foot addition to the house for the restaurant.
A bike path will be built from the hotel to Big Bear Gear.
Some members of the public testified before the board with concerns about noise, odors, traffic, and environmental issues.
The property was acquired in 1765 by the Stout family, which also purchased the Upper Bellemont Farm property, according to a Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission staff report that’s filed with the application.
After the property was sold to a local couple in 1860, the dwelling was built, according to the report.
A leader of the local quarrying industry bought the property in 1892 and in 1930 it was sold to Frances Fireman, wife of Trenton industrialist Peter Fireman, the report notes.
“Hopefully, we’ll get out of the gate soon,” said Ehrenreich, who estimated that after ground is broken, the project will take about a year to complete. He would not disclose the estimated cost.
