MANLIUS — After months of renovation work, the Craftsman Inn and Suites’ updated and upgraded look is starting to come into focus. Work is complete on the hotel section of the property, where a more open lobby greets visitors. Labor continues in the suites section of the hotel and in the restaurant and banquet areas, […]
MANLIUS — After months of renovation work, the Craftsman Inn and Suites’ updated and upgraded look is starting to come into focus.
Work is complete on the hotel section of the property, where a more open lobby greets visitors. Labor continues in the suites section of the hotel and in the restaurant and banquet areas, which are being overhauled and expanded.
Robert M. Spoto, chief operating officer for Widewaters Hotels, the owner of the Craftsman Inn and 20 other hotels in the U.S. and Canada, says the upgrades have been planned since it purchased the East Genesee Street property in 2016.
Work at other Widewaters Hotels properties — including Vail, Colorado, and Bradenton, Florida — delayed the work here a bit, he says.
The inn has kept its signature Stickley furniture, he explains, but sent it back to the maker for refinishing. In the hotel section, the now black dressers and desks coordinate with black trim and black barn-style fittings on the shower doors, and bedroom doors in suites.
“We just felt there was a real need for a quality hotel on that [east] side of town,” Spoto says.
Touches include tiled bathroom floors, the same mattresses used at Waldorf Astoria hotels, and showers often replacing tubs.
“A business traveler doesn’t need a bath tub,” he says. However, rooms with double beds usually keep the bath because family travelers make use of it.
Similar upgrades are moving along in the suite section of the property, where new wiring can be seen through still-open ceiling grids.
With its headquarters on the eponymous parkway in DeWitt, Widewaters had been interested in having a hotel property in Central New York for some time, Spoto says. When the Craftsman came on the market, Widewaters leadership saw what could be not just another property, but a place that could serve as a training site for its other operations and a facility where new concepts and products could be tried out.
A concept new to the region, perhaps to all of upstate New York, is the wood-fired grill where a large portion of the food will be prepared when the former Limestone Grille reopens as the Craftsman Wood Grille and Tap House.
Patrons of the former grille won’t recognize much. “There’s nothing left of it,” says Spoto. Workers tore out the stairs and loft from the dining area and even removed the kitchen flooring. The front exterior has been redesigned and a covered patio on the west side of the restaurant can provide space for as many as 100 people, says Craftsman Inn and Suites General Manager Paul McNeil.
Amid the noise of construction, McNeil shows off the grill that will be the center of the open-concept kitchen. An 8-foot-long, stainless steel Grillworks Infierno grill, which burns nothing but wood, stands ready amid the construction material for installation. At a cost that exceeds many cars, the grill will require the fire be tended, coals shifted, and cooking surfaces be raised and lowered. The main fire sits up high, so coals can drop down below one of two cooking surfaces. That will make the flames visible throughout the restaurant, McNeil says.
In addition to the grill, the restaurant will have a wood-fired pizza oven, Spoto says.
With 89 rooms in all — 68 on the hotel side and 21 in the suites section — this is Widewaters Hotels’ smallest property. However, “because it’s so close, we want this hotel to be a true representation of our company’s quality,” Spoto says.
When Widewaters brings employees or guests to town, they stay at the Craftsman, he says. On a recent evening, 12 people in town for a meeting at Widewaters were staying at the Craftsman. “We want them to see what level of product and services we have to offer,” Spoto says.
McNeil, until recently the general manager at the Marriott Downtown Syracuse, points out some things that visitors may not notice. On the east side of the property, what had been a hill has been cut away and a retaining wall, installed to create space for 40 more parking spots. The construction of the patio roof allowed the ballroom ceiling to be raised to 16 feet, and new restrooms are far larger than previous restrooms.
The changes have cost about $3.5 million, Spoto says, but he expects the final costs to go higher before work is completed.
McNeil says he expects the suites to be ready for travelers by the beginning of September, “or maybe sooner.” The restaurant won’t be open for a couple of weeks after that to give staff time to train, break in equipment, and learn recipes. “You never want to practice on a guest,” he notes.
While Widewaters operates hotels with many well-known brands — Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hampton, DoubleTree and others — the Craftsman Inn and Suites will stay independent, Spoto says. “Definitely,” he adds.