Monday, March 31, 2014

Allentown arena hotel opening delayed

Eagles fans rocking out to the song "Hotel California" this September won't be able to retire to Allentown's Renaissance Hotel at the end of the evening.

Forget about never being able to leave, they won't be able to check in.

City Center Lehigh Valley, which owns the 180-room hotel initially projected to open in August, is now shooting for a November opening, said J.B. Reilly, CEO of the development company.

"We are going through a very detailed process with Marriott," Reilly said. "Good things take time, and we may have been a little bit optimistic when we talked about August as a date."
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In October, City Center announced a major score, winning the right to display the upscale Marriott Renaissance name on the new hotel under construction at the arena site between Seventh and Eighth and Hamilton and Linden streets. The brand is known for trendy modern designs and catering to business travelers and those looking for an urban feel.

The hotel, which includes 20,000 square feet of meeting space, some of it overlooking the arena floor, will be managed by Greenwood Hospitality, which owns and operates 10 hotels, including the Harrisburg Hilton and the Hilton Garden Inn in Hershey.

Reilly said that other than restoration of the historic Dime Bank, which has its own schedule and will serve as the lobby and link between the hotel and the rest of the complex, the exterior is essentially complete.

"It is on schedule construction-wise, and by the time the concert opens, the hotel will be substantially complete," he said. "There are just a lot of operational startup requirements that we need to be doing."

Alvin H. Butz Inc. managed construction of the hotel's outer shell under its contract to build the arena complex. It has officially turned the shell of the new section over to City Center.

City Center is talking with North Star Construction, which it has used to oversee its other downtown construction projects, about overseeing the job of completing the interior, which includes walls, paint, tile and other finish details.

"I'm sure once we get inside there, we'll be asked to go fast — which we like," North Star owner James N. Gentile said. "We'll go as fast as they want us to go."

Vinay Barthwal, part owner of the 210-room Holiday Inn Allentown, said Gentile can take his time. Barthwal said he welcomes the new arena and even the new hotel for the activity it will bring, but he won't mind having a monopoly downtown for a few months after the arena opens.

The Holiday Inn's at Ninth and Hamilton streets, about two blocks from the arena hotel.

"If they can't be open, we can take all the business. That's not a problem," Barthwal said. "Hopefully, we can introduce ourselves to new clients and they'll come back."

Finishing the Renaissance is no easy task, in part because the interior design process is complex, Reilly said. Once that is complete, hiring and training staff will take time as well.

"That generally takes 30 to 60 days," he said. "And so we are thinking that some time in November the hotel will open for business."

After it selects a general manager, City Center expects to begin hiring for hotel jobs in late summer, Reilly said. A short delay, he said, is worth it to get things right.

"We are building a luxury hotel with very detailed high-end finishes," Reilly said, "and we want to make sure … we are able to deliver a luxury product to the guests."

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms' hockey season starts in October.

In the meantime, patrons of events and games, and even visiting teams, will have plenty of other nearby options, said Michael Stershic, president of Discover Lehigh Valley, the regional tourism promotion agency.

"You don't want to get it up and running in pieces," Stershic said of the new hotel.

The delay won't affect operation of the arena, said Ike Richman, spokesman for Comcast-Spectacor, parent company of Global Spectrum, which as been hired to manage the venue.

Greenwood Hospitality officials declined comment.

Source: Morning Call

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