BETHESDA, MD—A joint venture between Urgo Hotels & Resorts and Ensemble Hotel Partners has opened the 10-story, 159-room, full-service Marriott Hotel in downtown Ithaca, NY.
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 is proximate to Cornell University and Ithaca College. The joint venture developed and owns the project, and Urgo Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel.
“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, VP 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.”
The property sits on 8,430 sq. ft. of land and includes Monks on the Commons, a restaurant and bar with indoor/outdoor seating located on the pedestrian commons with floor-to-ceiling windows. The hotel has approximately 3,000 sq. ft. of meeting/function space on the second floor, which also has floor-to-ceiling windows. Guestrooms are on the second level and floors three through 10. There is also an on-site fitness center.
“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,” said Jalazo. “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% in 2016 to a total of 46 properties and approximately 6,600 rooms, including all owned, third-party management and under development projects contracts. 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.”
