HONESDALE BOROUGH, PA — Plans are in the works for an independent, upscale hotel to be located on land behind Honesdale’s CVS, just off Main Street: the Hotel Stourbridge. 

The developer, Briana Wilkins, gave a presentation before the Honesdale Borough Council on Monday, June 22, explaining the hotel’s concept. 

Wilkins grew up in Wayne County and went to college at Princeton before going into real estate development in the Philadelphia area. Her family formerly owned and operated Cove Haven Resort in Lakeville. 

“I came home in 2020 like many others for COVID to ride out the storm up here, and I fell in love with the area again,” said Wilkins. “In 2024, I came back because my mom got sick, and I looked around and I really decided it was time to invest in a place that had given me so much.”

The Hotel Stourbridge will include 50 rooms across four floors, with an additional roof terrace area. Rooms will be a mix of double, king, queen and suite rooms. 

“My goal here is to be as local and collaborative as possible,” said Wilkins. “There is no restaurant here [in the hotel]; Honesdale is the hotel’s restaurant. We’ll be using a local general contractor to build it. We’ll be using local businesses to held us make the spaces truly memorable. We’ll be using local banks to finance it… and we’ll be using local people to operate it and make it special.”

Wilkins said the hotel will create 30 jobs during construction and 10 full- and part-time jobs once completed. 

The design and branding of the hotel will be influenced by the stylings of antique train cars, hearkening back to the Stourbridge Lion, the original steam locomotive that’s central to Honesdale’s history. Wilkins mentioned the hotel as a potential place for guests to stay when they’re coming to attend weddings at local venues. 

The borough council expressed support for the idea. At the meeting, it passed a requested zoning change to allow for hotels as a principal permitted use in the borough’s industrial districts, which is necessary for the hotel to occupy its planned location. 

Mayor Derek Williams said that the need to add additional lodging capacity in the area has been on the community’s radar for years. He said he appreciated that the hotel would be independently owned and operated, rather than being part of a bigger chain. 

Wilkins turned the appreciation back on the borough. 

“I don’t think there’s a lot of areas that would support an independent hotel like this, and that’s a credit to Honesdale,” she said. “So many times, you need a flag [a national chain’s branding], you need the [rewards] points, you need the loyal customers, whereas Honesdale, like, it has to be independent; it has to be about the story you’re telling and the people you’re bringing in and the way you’re collaborating.”