ELY- Matt Stupnik and his $3.5 million boutique hotel project is facing a squeeze from the lack of available parking space. When he bought the former Ely community center from the city for two dollars it required, among other things, that he finish his project by July 2025 and that he provide sufficient off-street parking for his future hotel guests. Those parking spaces are proving hard to find and the situation threatens to derail a major redevelopment project for the city.
Seller’s market
Stupnik told the Timberjay that parking is critical to his project. “We want an adjacent parking lot, with an additional building for storage—but if people are not going to sell, my hands are tied.” Stupnik has reached out to neighboring property owners, but he’s been unable to reach any purchase agreements to date, in part because those property owners recognize that Stupnik is under pressure to buy, and that has prompted some to ask premium prices for their property. Stupnik confirmed that this happened to him. “I’m not going to play that game, and overpay, so good luck to them.”
The way forward
At the P&Z meeting, commission member Emily Roose noted that the city could waive the off-street parking requirement as a way to resolve the impasse. Ely’s city ordinances (§11.20) require that a “tourist accommodation” must provide at least one parking space “per unit”.
Stupnik related to the Timberjay that on-street parking could be workable but wasn’t “ideal.”
P&Z commissioner Mauro Caruso noted that the parking lot across the street next to the Ely Senior Center was owned by the city. “Why not sell that lot to [Stupnik] … or give him a 99-year lease?”
“Where will the members of the senior center park?” said Angela Campbell the city council liaison on the commission. Roose concluded the short discussion by asking that Campbell “bring up [to the council] that leasing the lot is an option they could explore,” as one alternative to solving Stupnik’s parking problem.
Ely City Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski weighed in on the debate after the meeting. “No one is suggesting we push folks from the senior center out of that lot… but it is a public lot that the city owns. It doesn’t belong to the senior center. People besides those using the senior center can and do park there.”
Langowski added, “It would be a shame if a $3.5 million project got held up by a lack of parking… Stupnik is willing to work with neighbors to find other opportunities to address the parking issue.”
Stupnik’s own words appeared to back this up. “I have been in talks with a few homeowners that would be willing sell at a fair price,” Stupnik said, “but the locations are not ideal … If it isn’t adjacent to the building, I am not totally against it, it would just have to be the right situation.”