The Hotel Syracuse is a historic hotel built in 1924 and located at 500 South Warren Street, Syracuse, New York. It closed in 2004 and currently sits vacant.
Architecture
It is significant in that it is "an excellent example of an early 20th century modern hotel designed by one of the leading hotel designers of the day." It was designed by William Stone Post of George B. Post & Sons of New York City in 1921.
History
1927 - American Aviator Hero Charles Lindbergh visited the hotel to talk about his historic - first trans Atlantic - flight from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis.
In 1980 the hotel was expanded with a new tower wing and renamed The Hilton at Syracuse Square.
The hotel eventually left Hilton in the 1990s and returned to its original name.
In 2004, Downtown Syracuse suffered a major blow when the Hotel Syracuse closed. The 790-room hotel found itself battling bankruptcy.
In December 2004, the city announced that a million-dollar payment by the chief creditor of the Hotel Syracuse would settle the unpaid property taxes dispute. This allowed the hotel to emerge from bankruptcy.
In August 2005, the Israeli firm GMUL agreed to buy the Hotel Syracuse and its garage, and renovate the property into a new four-star hotel and condos. More detailed plans became public in December 2005, listing the following plans for the complex:
- 54 condominiums (including four penthouses) with a price range of $360,000 to $450,000 located in the 1980 tower
- 155-room business hotel
- 150 Apartments
- Restoration of banquet facilities and street-level store-fronts
- Rehabilitation of the complex's parking garage
- Pool and gym
In May 2006, the Hotel Syracuse project was sold to another Israeli company named AMERIS Holdings Ltd as part of a larger package deal, which included this and other assets acquired from GMUL. AMERIS Holdings Ltd, controlled by the Levi Kushnir and his son Elad, has a large portfolio of development across the globe and specifically in the USA.
The owners reconfigured some of the previous plans. Rather than selling condominiums in the tower, the condo portion of the project was to be shifted into the historic building. The overall programming was not changed.
When ownership changed in 2006, Ameris Holdings ltd. reopened the banquet facilities, which had been closed for several years. This was important to the community, since these facilities have a nostalgic value going back many years.
Shortly after, work began on the tower (now being programmed into luxury rental apartments), the garage was fully renovated (Opened September 1, 2007), and the complex hosted some large-scale events, including the Syracuse Film Festival in April 2007.
In July 2007, work began on the tower portion of the project. The developer announced that 75 units would be available on the market by the third quarter of 2008. The unnamed building was to include a mix of luxury one- and two-bedroom apartments and services like a full-time doorman, parking, washer/dryer in each apartment, stainless steel appliances and other amenities to draw in clientele.
Then-mayor Matt Driscoll committed to turning Onondaga Street near the hotel complex into a park, in order to push the development along. The city sent out a press release in September 2007, stating that the Onondaga Street Park was hoped to be completed in the spring of 2008. It was hoped that the park's opening would coincide with the opening of the tower apartments.
Hotel Syracuse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
As of December 2013, the hotel remains vacant.
On April 14, 2013, Boston-based Pyramid Hotel Group made an offer of an undisclosed amount to the City of Syracuse to renovate and reopen the Hotel Syracuse. However, the City doesn't own it, GML does. GML is another Israeli company who has current ownership of the hotel. But, GML still owes back over 500,000 in taxes to the city, and the city began a seizure process in order to acquire the hotel so that a potential buyer (most likely Pyramid Hotel Group) can purchase it.
Ed Riley, senior vice president of project management for Pyramid Hotel Group, said that if the deal were to go through, the hotel would be reopened with 260-280 rooms. He estimated that a renovation would take 14â€"16 months, and cost over $60 million. Riley said the hotel's rooms are too small and badly outdated. They would need to be renovated and enlarged, with all-new bathrooms installed, he said.He said the hotel's spacious lobby and its ballrooms need updating but are in relatively good shape and would be preserved. Many city officials have been pushing for a hotel to complement the 99,000 square foot Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center. The Hotel Syracuse is located just a block and a half away and many feel that a revamped Hotel Syracuse could serve the purpose of being the convention center hotel.
References
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