Kill Devil Hills Considers Attracting New Hotels To Oceanfront
After a decade and a half of watching almost every hotel on the Outer Banks oceanfront demolished to make way for exceedingly large rental cottages, the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners has just begun exploring options that might attract new hotels to the town.
Our friends at The Sentinel were at the most recent meeting on the matter, on Jan. 15, reporting that Kill Devil Hills Mayor Sheila Davies said town commissioners want to explore ways of making hotel/motel development more “economically viable” while protecting the town’s traditional “look and feel.”
Outer Banks Hotel/Motel Association President Jamie Chisholm confirmed at the meeting that in the past 15 years, the number of hotel and motel rooms in Dare County have dropped from 3,858 to 2,876.
The last hotel built in Kill Devil Hills was the Travelodge Beach Hotel, back in 1984.
“We recognize the value of hotels in our community,” Davies said. “We don’t want to diminish people’s opportunities and, for many people who can’t afford to rent a beach home or come for a week, a hotel is their first exposure to the Outer Banks.”
Travelodge Nags Head Beach Hotel Manager Sherrie Cahoon told the Sentinel that, “In the summertime we have people looking for rooms that can’t find them — particularly on the weekends…We definitely don’t have the accommodations we need to meet the demand.”
Kill Devil Hills Planning Board Chairman Stan Clough suggested creating a “Central Business District,” explaining, “You could increase densities and increase height.” With such features as a centrally located parking garage, some special attractions within walking distance and “some kind of anchor, such as a large hotel,” Clough added, “I think that would be very attractive to businesses and we would see a lot of consensus for development there.”
You can read the full story over at The Outer Banks Sentinel.
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS: Do you want to see more hotels on the oceanfront in Kill Devil Hills?
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