Nantucket hotel owner Bob Matthews has until the end of Friday before construction work on his property must cease for the summer.

Matthews' project manager Nick Laudano and his attorney, Sarah Alger, tried unsuccessfully to have the Planning Board grant a two-week waiver to allow crews to finish installing a steel building frame, lower the metal building onto its foundation, get it weather-tight and the site cleaned up.

Matthews' goal was to modify his permit so that his crews could seal up the metal building this summer and begin work on the interior.

Permit holders are prohibited from doing exterior work on projects in the downtown core district between June 15 and September 15.

Laudono told the Planning Board at its Monday night meeting that Matthews wanted to make the steel building safe from being blown down during the summer and watertight to protect its historic interior.

"At this point, we are about 80 percent with our steel and getting our location to a safe-and-sound condition," said Laudono.

"I think with the two weeks we could satisfy the board and get the site straightened up for the season, get it cleaned up."

Laudono added that making the metal building watertight would go a long way toward adhering to Historic District Commission guidelines that require Matthews to preserve as much of the old hotel as possible.

"We do need to get this building secure," he said. "It's been deteriorating over the last year because of weather."

Reconstruction of the Point Breeze stalled during the latter part of last winter and into this spring because Matthews stripped much of its sheathing and removed all of the first floor without a demolition permit.

Also, in early March, Building Inspector Bernie Bartlett issued Matthews a stopwork order for not filing complete plans with the Building Department.

Having secured his demolition permit and filing the correct plans, Matthews got permission to restart work just before Memorial Day Weekend.

But the Planning Board showed little sympathy for Matthews Monday night, challenging his claims of an unsafe building.

Matthews got a Planning Board special permit in July 2005 to renovate the existing general steel building, including the reconstruction of the original hotel as a 4,091-square-foot addition.