Aaron Ovios, president of Robert M. Sutherland, outlines plans for the rebuild and rebranding of the Quality Inn hotel on Saranac Avenue. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

LAKE PLACID — The proposed rebuilding and rebranding of a large Saranac Avenue hotel is headed for another public hearing — and a $6 million state grant request.

Residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on the demolition and reconstruction of the current Quality Inn at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the North Elba Town Hall.

The public hearing comes as the North Country Regional Economic Development Council seeks a $6 million state grant to help fund this project, which is expected to cost upward of $30 million and create 51 new jobs, according to a progress report from the NCREDC.

Engineers from Robert M. Sutherland, of Plattsburgh, and HBT Architects, of Rochester, outlined the details of the hotel reconstruction at a meeting of the Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board on Sept. 18.

If the review board approves the project, the existing hotel near Peninsula Way Road would be demolished.

A new L-shaped structure, under the Hilton Tru-Homewood Suites banner, would be built on that same footprint.

The new building will be approximately 102,935 square feet. That’s only 700 square feet larger than currently, according to Aaron Ovios, president of RMS, but the number of rooms inside would more than double, from 92 rooms to 191.

Of those rooms, 90 are expected to be Home2 extended-stay suites, and 93 would be Tru by Hilton rooms, which are “mid-priced” and “marketed to younger tech-savvy and design-minded travelers on a budget,” according to the NCREDC progress report.

The facade and general appearance of the building is virtually identical to the original design, with the exception of a few alterations that were necessary to meet the 35-foot height restriction after the North Elba Zoning Board of Appeals denied the project a variance to breach that height. Most notably: The building is now three stories, not four, and the roof is flat rather than pointed in three sections, according to Ryan Williams, an architectural designer with HBT Architects. The existing hotel is two stories high.

Ovios said at full occupancy, the new hotel may cause an increase in traffic on Saranac Avenue between 3% and 4%, and there could be an added traffic delay of no more than 22 seconds for drivers trying to leave the property.

Dual Development is the company behind this project.

Bhavik Jariwala, a partner at Dual Development LLC, told the Enterprise earlier this year that the company hoped to start demolition this year and open the new hotel by 2022, but he could not be reached to ask if that timeline has changed.

State REDC grants to private developers are given as reimbursements after projects are built, and promised jobs created.