New downtown hotels name general manager

SYRACUSE — The new hotel complex in downtown Syracuse’s Armory Square has a general manager.

Partners of The Inns at Armory Square, LLC named James Wefers to the post Tuesday. He will manage the 78-room Residence Inn and 102-room Courtyard by Marriott combination hotel under construction at the corner of Franklin and Fayette streets.

RHS Holdings, LLC, a Syracuse–based real estate development firm, is developing the hotels. They will be operated by New Castle Hotels & Resorts, a hotel owner-operator based in Shelton, Conn.

The properties are scheduled to open in spring 2013, according to RHS.

“The Inns at Armory Square offer us a unique opportunity to create our own identity in a prospering community,” Wefers said in a news release. “The area is in the midst of a massive revitalization program that has developed both office and residential buildings, including more than two dozen bars and restaurants, salons and boutique shops. Couple that with a team that will be committed to offering the highest level of service and accommodations at affordable pricing and I am certain that we will be able to please both the extended stay and the transient guests this hotel was custom designed to serve.”

Before joining New Castle and The Inns at Armory Square, Wefers was general manager of the 139-condominium Golden Eagle Lodge, where he helped develop an incentive program and brand standards that improve guest satisfaction scores, according to RHS. Prior to that, he was executive director of marketing for the Waterville Valley Resort Association and constructed the resort’s funding structure.

He was also general manager of the Secaucus/Meadowlands Courtyard by Marriott in New Jersey.

“James has nearly 20 years of hospitality industry experience, working with such companies as Marriott International and Interstate Hotels & Resorts,” Gerry Chase, New Castle president and chief operating officer, said in the release. “That made him the perfect candidate to lead the first new build hotel in downtown Syracuse in more than 50 years. I am confident that his focused leadership will allow The Inns at Armory Square to become market leaders with a minimum of ramp-up time.”

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com