The reborn Hotel Syracuse turns 100 years old

Marriott Syracuse Downtown celebrates the birthday                          

SYRACUSE — For than a century, it’s been a venue for weddings and wedding receptions, high-school proms, New Year’s Eve celebrations, other big events, and overnight lodging. The time period also included a two-year, $76 million renovation project that followed a more than decade-long closure after bankruptcy. The Marriott Syracuse Downtown, the former Hotel Syracuse, turned 100 on Aug. 16. The hotel is located at 100 E. Onondaga St. in Syracuse, and Melissa Oliver is the hotel’s general manager. The hotel hosted the Onondaga Historical Association’s Centennial Gala on Aug. 16, an event that marked the venue’s 100th birthday. Two days later, it also held a Sunday afternoon Community Day on Aug. 18. But the hotel’s own 100 Year Birthday Bash is set for Oct. 25, and tickets are available through website www.hotelsyracuse100.com. Officials pushed back that birthday celebration a couple of months due to scheduling issues, says Ed Riley, founding partner and managing member of Hotel Syracuse Restoration, LLC and Brine Wells Development. “We originally had it scheduled to be in the same weekend [as the other events] but because of summer and vacations, we had a lot of people RSVP regrets and wish we could do it at a later date … so we decided to move one of the events to the 25th and that will be an event that also raises money for the Food Bank [of Central New York],” Riley says in a phone interview with CNYBJ on Sept. 3. Eight years after reopening following the big renovation project, Riley says the Marriott Syracuse Downtown is set for its first round of updated renovation work and painting. Decorative painters have been in to apply paint touch ups to public spaces, the ballrooms, and the lobby to make them look like they did in 2016. “We’ll also be upgrading some furniture, some areas in those public spaces over the next two years,” says Riley. “Then, probably in the next three or four years … you’re starting to see some of the rooms get renovated as well.” He stipulates that Marriott wants the renovation work done, so it will get done. “We’re a very busy hotel. We’re not a museum. We’re a working hotel. We have a lot of people go through [the facility],” he notes. And over the years, some famous faces have paid a visit. The first guest to sign a guest card in the Hotel Syracuse was child actor Jackie Coogan, who would later go on to portray Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family” television series. Though born in Los Angeles, Coogan and his family lived in Syracuse for several months between 1917 and 1919, per the website of the Onondaga Historical Association. Since then, Riley says the facility has hosted public figures that included John F. Kennedy before he was president; Robert F. Kennedy when he was running for president; the late Beatle John Lennon for his 31st birthday, and more recently, “The Tonight Show” host and comedian Jimmy Fallon.

“Very gratifying”

When asked if having the facility again functioning as a full-service hotel as it turned 100 made the renovation effort that much more satisfying, Riley tells CNYBJ, “Absolutely. It’s very gratifying,” citing people coming back to the hotel for the hosting of second, third, and even fourth-generation weddings. Riley also recalls how a presenter at the Centennial Gala pointed out that the reason the hotel was built in the first place was to showcase the community and that Syracuse was a “growing and thriving city” and needed a first-class hotel to host people coming here for business purposes. And now, a century later, Riley says, “the same thing is happening.” “The hotel has been restored. It’s back to its original splendor, and, at the same time, we’re undergoing a renaissance in the community with Micron [Technology Inc. coming to Clay],” he adds. The firm also plans to open an office at One Lincoln Center in downtown Syracuse. Riley also cites the expansion project at the neighboring Tech Garden, calling it “phenomenal.” The area around the hotel now includes the newly refurbished Symphony Tower, the Salt City Market, the soon-to-be renovated Chimes building, and the upcoming STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) High School in the building previously known as both Central High School and later as Syracuse Central Tech High School. In the interview, CNYBJ asked Riley what prompted him to pursue the effort to renovate and restore the former Hotel Syracuse. Five years before Riley acquired the property in 2014, he says he just called a few people he knew and asked how he could help. At the time, Riley was working in hospitality for a group in Boston that had a lot of hotels, mostly large properties and some historic in its portfolio. Riley says he was commuting back and forth, having still owned a home in Syracuse and had his eye on the Hotel Syracuse. “I watched it suffer. I watched it go through the bankruptcy and close,” he recalls. His first discussions were just about how he could help. “And then one thing grew into another into another and next thing I know I had a hell of a deal with a 600-room hotel and no running water and no heat and limited electricity,” Riley quips. “But it was a heck of a deal.”