There are unpainted walls, exposed ceiling ductwork, bare concrete floors, and dust everywhere but somehow over the next 3½ weeks, magic will happen inside the new Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel and it will become a finished project. Mostly.
“We’re still hoping to hit mid-May with our opening,” general manager Steve Groppe said. “Right now we’re focused on the lobby. Over the next few weeks, it will be all hands on deck on the first two floors.”
Mr. Groppe spoke to the Toledo Rotary Club on Monday at the Park Inn by Radisson to give an update. He later gave a Blade reporter a tour of the 13-story, 240-room hotel that is owned by First Hospitality Group Inc., of Chicago.
Mr. Groppe, who has managed Marriott Corp.-branded Renaissance hotels in Cincinnati and Cleveland, told Rotarians that Renaissance is a “very appropriate” name for the hotel at 444 N. Summit St., given the downtown rebirth.
BLADE BRIEFING: Jon Chavez on downtown hotel progress
“I think what you’re going to see the next 12 to 18 months ... is going to be extremely exciting,” Mr. Groppe said. He added that the hotel has gone through its own rebirth.
“There was nothing left of the old hotel. It’s down to bare concrete,” he said. “But when it’s ready, it will be the best in the area.”
Marriott, the general manager said, demands that all Renaissance hotels be three things — independent, intriguing, and indigenous.
The Toledo hotel, which was built in 1985 as a Hotel Sofitel and has been a Westin, a Best Western, and nearly everything in between, is independent in that no Renaissance hotels resembles another. Movable reading lights, refrigerators, and 50-inch TVs in the rooms will be available.
The indigenous factor will be created by Toledo-themed homages in the hotel to Jeep, the glass industry, the M*A*S*H* TV show, and the auto industry, Mr. Groppe said.
To pay for the remodel, First Hospitality opened the bank. An initial budget was $25 million, but Mr. Groppe said on Monday that cost is $31 million.
Much of that was to replace a heating and air conditioning system that was underpowered, he said, but as workers tore down walls and ceilings they found 30 years’ worth of neglect, repairs, and attempts at makeovers.
The rebuild has gone slowly, with a December opening delayed to May 17. But the hotel should be ready — though not finished — by April 1 to allow the city and Marriott officials time to inspect it.
A 12th-floor rooftop restaurant to complement a first-floor restaurant is coming along slowly and could be ready by May 17 but may take longer, the general manager said. When completed, it will have an open air eating area.
The hotel will employ a staff of 125 and Mr. Groppe said hiring will start in two weeks with some managers and the housekeeping staff, which eventually will number 25, employed first. Their first task: remove the large amounts of dust and give the hotel a proper cleaning.
A signature herringbone-patterned tile floor in the front lobby was being laid on Monday by workers, while others finished ceilings. The former pool on the basement floor has been filled in and will become part of a large fitness room.
The hotel won’t have 24-hour room service or minibars. But it will have a three-meals-a-day upscale restaurant, luxury suites on several floors, and a second-floor club lounge for Marriott gold and platinum rewards members. Rewards members also will receive complimentary robes and slippers
“We’re shooting for 4 stars,” Mr. Groppe said of the hoped-for hotel rating on a scale of one through five stars.
Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.
First Published March 7, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
