The new Ithaca Marriott Downtown on the Commons officially opened in Ithaca, N.Y.
The 11-story, 159-room hotel is located at 120 South Aurora St., and is a joint venture between Urgo Hotels & Resorts and Ensemble Real Estate Investments. The property's approval and construction process took roughly eight years to complete, and the development of the hotel created 66 local jobs.
"If you own a business downtown, you are about to see more foot traffic every day, 365 days a year, because of means are staying instead of up by the airport where they'll never find your business, never hear about it, now they'll be able to walk past your bar or past your restaurant ... helping pay your employees' salaries and help you make a living," Ithaca mayor Svante Myrick said in a statement.
Much was said at the hotel's opening regarding benefits to the local community. The new hotel is expected to bring in roughly $11.2 million in property, sales and hotel occupancy taxes to Ithaca over the next 10 years.
"The impact when you have a business like this that's contributing to your tax base, it helps make your schools better, it helps your infrastructure," lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "It helps everything. This is a very, very important day in this community, and it just telegraphs to me that this community has come back. It's had a lot of long waits and I wanted to say I see the future is already here."