Joint venture developed and owns hotel; Urgo to provide management services.
BETHESDA, MD. /BROOKLYN, N.Y. – A joint venture between Urgo Hotels & Resorts and Ensemble Hotel Partners announced the opening of the 10-story, 159-room, full-service Marriott Hotel in downtown Ithaca, New York. Located at the eastern entrance to the Ithaca Commons, a newly renovated pedestrian indoor and outdoor mixed-use development and entertainment district anchoring the downtown core, the hotel sits on the doorsteps of Cornell University and Ithaca College. The joint venture developed and owns the project, and the hotel will be managed by Urgo Hotels & Resorts.
“The Marriott Ithaca will act as a gateway to the newly renovated commons in downtown Ithaca, with its numerous restaurants, retail and entertainment options. When designing the project, we focused on the architecture and interior design to incorporate aspects of the local community and Cornell, including custom guestrooms and a lobby that acts as gathering place for hotel guest and locals alike” said Mathew Jalazo, vice president of development at Urgo. “Furthermore, this is Ithaca’s first new hotel in downtown in more than 10 years and the only Marriott-branded hotel located downtown. We believe the combination of the strength of the Marriott brand and the quality of the hotel’s facilities and amenities, along with its unique location, will allow the property to outperform its competitive set in a short period of time.”
The 159-room full-service Marriott hotel features a 10-story design on 8,430 square feet of land with a state-of-the-art fitness center and Monks on the Commons, a restaurant and bar with indoor/outdoor seating located on the pedestrian commons boasting floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Cornell and the surrounding downtown amenities. The hotel has approximately 3,000 square feet of meeting/function space on the second floor with floor-to-ceiling windows and guestrooms on the second level and floors three through ten.
“While this marks our first entry into Ithaca, this is our 16th property in the New York metro area and our 17th Marriott family branded hotel,” Jalazo added. “2016 has been a record year for Urgo. The Ithaca Marriott will be the sixth new development property we opened this year, with our seventh opening next week.”
“Our portfolio has grown more than 28 percent in 2016 to a total of 46 properties and approximately 6,600 rooms, including all owned, third-party management and under development projects contracts,” Jalazo noted. “Our pipeline remains quite full, with six properties under construction and five in the development phase, and we expect to enjoy similar growth in 2017.”
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