Cuomo announces new $18 million hotel for Syracuse Inner Harbor

SYRACUSE — New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo visited Syracuse today to announce plans for a new $18 million, 130-room Aloft Hotel at the city’s Inner Harbor.

The new hotel is part of a larger $350 million mixed-use waterfront redevelopment project, spearheaded by COR Development Group, that includes environmental remediation efforts and infrastructure improvements to enable private development along 28 acres of the Inner Harbor.

Aloft Hotels is a new boutique, lifestyle brand that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) started in 2008. The hotels feature a contemporary, urban design and an array of technological elements aimed at younger travelers. Starwood currently has more than 50 Aloft properties in the U.S. and another 20 Aloft hotels outside the U.S.

The project is made possible in part by funding from the governor’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative, according to Cuomo’s office.

“The Inner Harbor redevelopment project has the potential to transform Downtown Syracuse and make the City’s waterfront a world-class destination for businesses, residents and visitors,” Cuomo said in a news release. “Today’s news that Starwood Hotels has agreed to build here on the waterfront is a big win for the City of Syracuse and signals that after years of little progress, the Inner Harbor project is moving forward, readying the property for future investment and economic growth.”

The Syracuse Inner Harbor project is expected to create and sustain up to 4,358 direct and indirect jobs in the coming years, while also contributing an annual economic output of $259 million for the region, the governor’s office estimated. The project includes the remediation and removal of environmental contaminants as well as infrastructure improvements to enable mixed-use redevelopment that includes residential, office, retail, educational, hotel, and community facilities, the news release noted.

In total, the planned reconstruction covers about 1.2 million square feet, including the renovation of a 30,000-square-foot maintenance building and freight house currently owned by the New York State Canal Corporation, according to the governor’s office.

The redevelopment of the Inner Harbor required COR Development to complete substantial environmental remediation and infrastructure improvements in order to ready the site for this mixed-use redevelopment project, the news release said. The Central New York REDC has so far allocated $4.5 million to help fund the remediation of environmentally contaminated land, infrastructure improvements, and renovation of the Canal Corporation freight house.

“Starwood joining the Inner Harbor project is great news for Syracuse and Onondaga County and is further evidence of the success of the regional economic development councils,” Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said in the release.

Robert Simpson, co-chair of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council and president and CEO of CenterState CEO, said, “Today is a spectacular day for Syracuse’s waterfront. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Cuomo, the City of Syracuse, and COR Development, this vision is becoming a reality.”

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com