There was no question the former Newark Garden Hotel on North Main Street in the Village of Newark had fallen on hard times. The once popular hotel had deteriorated and become a way-station for some unsavory guests and over the years a sore spot for Newark Village Police.
It also began taking in Wayne County Social Services recipients needing temporary housing.
Last Friday the hotel changed hands with the new owner/operator EJC Hotels acquiring the property for an undisclosed amount.
With EJC Hotels’ first acquisition, founder and CEO Ernie Catanzaro said he is on a path to bring back the type of hospitality that is missing from hotels.
A 30-year hotel industry veteran, Catanzaro launched his New York-based hotel ownership and management company this year with the goals of finding deals and improving service. EJC Hotels is an affiliate of Old Greenwich, Connecticut-based Clearview Capital Group.
Catanzaro said service, guest experience and hotel conditions have been on the decline, even before the pandemic. What he wants to focus on are the services that “went to the wayside because everything is profit-driven these days,” he said.
Catanzaro started out in the hotel industry with Marriott International, and while in college interned at the Dan Hotel Company in Israel. He most recently served as an executive vice president at Blue Sky Hospitality Solutions, a hotel management and development company with about 50 hotels and 3,000 employees. He also held senior positions at HEI Hotels and Dow Hotel Company.
“Pretty much, I’ve done it all: washing dishes, busing tables, launching restaurant concepts throughout the country,” he said.
EJC’s first hotel, acquired through a partnership with the Empire State EB-5 Regional Center, an EB-5 fund led by CEO David Eckert, is the Newark Garden Finger Lakes Hotel in New York. His partner in the deal had been pursuing the property for a while but kept running into obstacles, so he approached Catanzaro, and together they bought the hotel.
The Newark Garden Finger Lakes Hotel is the perfect-sized property with which to launch the company, Catanzaro said. It will either be an independent hotel or affiliated with a soft brand. Its redesign will be thoughtful of guests’ needs, and he plans to work closely with the designer.
It’s a unique property, and there isn’t another hotel around for about 8 miles, he said. The Newark Garden Finger Lakes Hotel was known for years as the place to go, but it now needs significant work.
“It just looks tired,” he said.
The plan is to give the property a $10 million upgrade to its interior and exterior, adding new elements that include a rooftop bar that overlooks the Erie Canal, a large boat with dinner cruises and updated, modern event space, Catanzaro said.
The property will also gain 40 upscale apartments that will have their own entrance with a private elevator.
The hotel will close during the renovations, he said. The company considered keeping it open, but executives felt the property could have a fresh start by welcoming guests back after the work is complete.
“We’re going to be embracing the community,” he said. “The local community — that’s really important in some of the markets we’re looking at.”
Incremental revenue is important as well, Catanzaro said. That could include renting out space to a small store or a Starbucks. “We definitely don’t want to count on just hotel revenue,” he said. “We want to look at other means of making money as well.”
Labor is the No. 1 challenge for the hotel industry each day, Catanzaro said. Everyone working in a hotel is struggling, from the associates up to the general manager. He said as EJC Hotels grows its portfolio, its team will also grow.
At the Newark Garden Lake property, a majority of the core staff has committed to stay with the hotel as it undergoes renovation, he said. They’ll start working on projects before the hoel reopens.
The Newark area hasn’t been hit by a lack of labor, and EJC Hotels plans to hire the best people it can, he said.
“We’re going to pay over market,” he said. “We’re not going to fool around with any more of these $10, $12 housekeeping rates because it does not work.”
As he builds his company, Catanzaro said he wants to retain people who want a career in the industry and work their way up like he did.
“We definitely want to look for people that want to join us and become vice president one day,” he said.
Information for this story from a EJC Company press release and story posting by ‘From Hotel News Now’
The post Newark Garden Hotel to undergo multi-million dollar renovation appeared first on The Times of Wayne County - Waynetimes.com.