The renovations of the former Hotel Syracuse are ongoing inside and out and the sunshine beamed inside of two completed rooms that were unveiled today. The Hotel will become a Marriot. The Owner's Manager Member, Ed Riley is largely credited with saving the hotel. He says the wooden doors leading to the rooms date back to 1924 and are being refurbished locally by Stickley.
“They take them out, strip them down, refinish them, replace the parts that are missing and bring them back machined and ready to go with the new locks and the new hinges.”
Riley adds the doors were invented by the Statler Family. Once inside, the rooms we saw today are modern and spacious. The only other things that will be kept original to the rooms are the entrance door frames and crown molding inside.
“… But other than that, the room itself is totally new and that’s part of, again, the program for the project when we submitted to the State Historic Preservation and the Interior Department was everything from the corridor wall to the outside wall gets gutted and you get a new room product in here which really makes the hotel competitive and puts it in a position where it can remain competitive for a long period of time.”
For local residents who might wonder if they might be able to afford staying at the upscale Marriot when in opens next Spring, Riley feels it’s important to offer affordable event packages.
"For instance, a St. Patrick’s Day Weekend will be a big weekend. There’s gonna be a Valentine’s Day Weekend, you’ll have something for that. So, they’ll be incentives throughout to get through here.”
Weekends are typically slow for hotels of that size, and Riley says that will mean more opportunities for package savings. The hotel is already booking rooms starting July first on. The official opening date could happen sooner.
