Lighthouse Cove construction rolling along

Fifteen months into an expansion of Lighthouse Cove’s hotel rooms and condominiums in Dewey Beach, the project is all but completed.

Work on a new entrance to the parking garage began in September 2014, and the condominiums are only waiting for the installation of their electronic key entrances., said Thomas Harvey, residential sales associate for the Wilmington-based company developing the project Harvey, Hanna and Associates.

The newest section of Lighthouse Cove, along Dickinson Avenue, facing the Rusty Rudder to the north, is four floors – two floors with 11 hotel rooms each and two floors with five condominiums each.

Vince DiFonzo, TKo Hospitality chief operating officer, runs both Hyatt Place hotel and the condominiums, known as The Residences. During a Nov. 30 tour of the new section, he said the 22 new hotel rooms for Hyatt Place opened Memorial Day weekend, bringing the total to 130.

“The new hotel rooms have been hugely successful for us,” he said.

The total number of condominiums is now 26.

When Hyatt Place opened in September 2013 there were 108 rooms, and 60 percent of the hotel rooms had two queen beds, said DiFonzo. All 22 of the new rooms have king-sized beds and living room space, with couches that fold out, he said.

Originally, the thought was parents would want their kids sleeping on beds, said DiFonzo, but for some families a pull-out couch works just fine.

Standing atop the rooftop plaza of Hyatt Place, the final vision of the development is beginning to take shape.

The last section of the second floor of parking garage space was recently poured and it’ll need to cure for about a month, said DiFonzo.

The beginnings of the bottom third of concrete pillars supporting the third level of parking, and then a pool on top of that, are visible.

DiFonzo said the hard part of the construction – excavation, foundation and infrastructure work – has been completed.

Harvey said moving forward, construction will be less engineering-intensive and more about finishing.

Harvey said the doors visible from the Van Dyke Avenue side of the new section are not doors to nowhere; they are storage for the condominiums.

“It’s a pretty common question,” he said.

Ryan Kennedy, marketing director, said the company is figuring out what’s going to happen next. He said there’s demand for condominiums on the south side, but they might begin renovation of the Baycenter.

“There are a lot of ideas on the table,” he said.

DiFonzo said 50 percent of condo buyers are using the property as a rental investment.

While the vision is becoming clear, both Harvey and Kennedy were hesitant to pinpoint a final completion date for the entire Lighthouse Cove project. Ultimately, the two men said, the project wouldn’t be completed before the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018.