Looks like the new downtown Marriott Hotel may finally be starting construction:
Ithaca Marriott may build soon, Hampton may follow
David Hill,
dhill@ithacajournal.com | @Ijdavidhill 5:24 p.m. EDT September 29, 2014
Hotel construction in downtown Ithaca is soon to be checking in.
The company building the long-awaited Ithaca Marriott on the east end of the Commons has chosen a contractor, who says it hopes to start construction in October.
Urgo Hotels, the company behind the 159-room, 10-story Marriott planned for what’s mostly a small parking lot next to Madeline’s restaurant, has chosen William H. Lane Inc., of Binghamton, to build the hotel, according to an announcement from the construction company. Lane hopes to begin construction in October.
William H. Lane is opening an Ithaca office to manage the project. It’s also negotiating several private projects in the Ithaca area, according to the company.
Other major buildings Lane has built in Ithaca include a new home for the Tompkins County Health Department, Bartels Hall and Martha Van Rensselaer Hall at Cornell University, Egbert Union at Ithaca College, and a dormitory expansion this fall at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
Meanwhile, a 120-room hotel proposed for the block east of the Commons is nearing a key decision point. The Ithaca Common Council is scheduled to consider transferring property now under city control for a hotel proposed for a wedge of property between State/Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Seneca Way.
Lighthouse Hotels, of Syracuse, proposes to build a six-story, 120-room hotel behind the Carey Building, known as the former home of Mayers newsstand and smoke shop, and now housing small-business incubator Rev, as well as other ground-floor stores.
The $19 million project would use a 32-space parking lot off State/MLK Street owned by the city and the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, though most of the hotel would be on a privately owned lot on Seneca Way.
Lighthouse Hotels runs the Hampton Inn of Ithaca at 337 Elmira Road. The project team refers to the downtown project as a “Hampton boutique hotel.â€
The council’s City Administration Committee passed a resolution endorsing negotiations Sept. 17. The resolution would give the council’s OK for the IURA to negotiate sale terms. Among standards the agency has set for the negotiations is that the hotel create at least 11 full-time jobs paying at least a living wage, now $12.62 an hour with employer health insurance, and to pay housekeeping staff at least 120 percent of the state minimum wage.
At the committee meeting, Alderman J.R. Clairborne, of the Second Ward, sought unsuccessfully for living wages for all employees. He noted that many hotel-industry workers often work multiple jobs and face long commutes. First Ward Alderman George McGonigal advocated for using local tradespeople for construction.
Mayor Svante Myrick said any living-wage or local-labor requirements tied to property tax incentives should be applied countywide, as requiring a living wage could make a downtown location less competitive and drive new hotel construction outside the city.
“We won’t create the jobs here, we won’t create the tax revenue here, we won’t get any of the wage benefits that we’ve already obtained here, and all of this will move outside the city,†he told the committee.
IURA community developer director Nels Bohn told the committee that the wage provisions are part of an agreement that includes design and construction standards intended, in part, to ensure the building is durable and could even be converted to housing someday if financially dictated.
Lighthouse Hotels development director Neil Patel told the committee that even at the company’s Ithaca Hampton Inn, many guests say they would prefer to be downtown near its attractions and conveniences. The hotel and others often turn away potential guests each year because they are full at certain times, he added.
The plans are being made while the Hotel Ithaca, formerly known as the Holiday Inn, on Cayuga Street at Clinton Street, is undergoing a renovation to modernize many of its guest rooms and add a conference center. Many downtown merchants and city officials say a conference center would help attract meetings and fill hotel rooms — and shops and restaurants — midweek and in low times of the year.
Here's the IJ article:
Marriott construction nearing in Ithaca, while Hampton hotel decision nears
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You could probably shoot a cannon down the street safely. But if cars could drive through The Commons on those rainy November days, the stores would be doing business, correct?
