By Jane Holahan
Published Sep 25, 2006 13:42
The wastebaskets in the 63 rooms of the new Lancaster Arts Hotel have a special pull-out basket where maids can put a plastic bag.
Then the basket is put in a larger basket and that ugly plastic bag is totally hidden from view.
That’s the kind of devotion to detail seen throughout the North Mulberry Street and Harrisburg Pike hotel, set to open on Sunday.
“Lancaster is overdue for a hotel like this,” says Deborah Stuart of Stuart & Associates Architecture, part of a team of architects who worked on the site of the former Rosenbaum Tobacco Warehouse. “A lot of people have to go to Hotel Hershey for this kind of hotel.”
The details are luxurious: satin hangers; sheets with 330-thread-count Egyptian cotton, which feel like butter; 32- and 37-inch flat-screen TVs; antibacterial carpet; Turkish towels and robes; mints on the pillow at night; even a bedside mat that reads “good morning” when you wake up and look at it from bed and “good night” when you go to bed.
Already sold out for the last weekend of October, when nearby Franklin & Marshall College holds its parents’ weekend, the hotel offers enough luxuries and services to be considered a Four Diamond hotel, according to general manager David Payne.
“This is the only hotel of its kind in the city,” says Payne, who’s been in the hotel business for 30 years. “We are very detail-oriented, from the quality of our furnishings to the services we offer.”
The Lancaster Arts Hotel was built in a 19th-century, five-story tobacco warehouse. A great deal of effort went into retaining the wooden beams, high ceilings and exposed brick walls of the structure.
“Everybody likes the idea of historical renovations, of touching old things,” says Stuart.
“But they also want to have the convenience of modern things. We’ve made the newer elements, like the staircase in the lobby, look more modern so you can clearly differentiate. It’s what I call sympathetic modern,” she said.
The hotel’s developers include architect John deVitry, Peter Egan, Bill Stull, Gary Neff and Brad Gearhart. Caldwell, Heckles & Egan Inc., is the general contractor. The hotel is managed by Growth Properties Investment Managers Inc. of Philadelphia.
The revitalization of the empty warehouse is the latest of many developments started or completed recently in the city’s northwest quadrant, most notably several projects at F&M and the highly popular Clipper Magazine Stadium.
“I’m so excited about the synergy in the city,” says Stuart. “So much is going on.”
The total cost of renovating the hotel is about $5 million and it took about a year to complete.
The developers specifically wanted to emphasize local artists and local history.
Local artists will have their work on display throughout the hotel, with prints in the rooms. A different local artist will be featured in a gallery off the lobby each month. In October, it will be Fred Rodger. And local artists’ self-portraits will hang throughout the hotel.
Many of the rooms have been named for local artists, including sculptor Blanche Nevin, who created the lion in Reservoir Park, and the largest suite in the hotel is named after Charles Demuth.
Payne says there is a large market for the hotel, including visitors to nearby F&M, the Manheim Auto Auction, the growing number of art galleries downtown and local hospitals.
“For example, if a company is trying to recruit someone, this would be a great place to put them up,” Payne says.
The hotel, with a staff of 40 to 50 employees, will offer a free shuttle service that will travel a five-mile radius around the hotel.
And with Clipper Magazine Stadium practically across the street, baseball fans will be coming too.
It won’t be an inexpensive trip. Rates for the smallest “study” rooms start at $149 a night. Top rates reach $325 for the 16 suites, some of which are as large as 700 square feet. They all have kitchenettes.
There are 12 different room types and all of the rooms feature furniture made by American Atelier of Allentown. Martin’s Chairs of New Holland also created some of the furniture.
It’s an eclectic mix of modern and Shaker style furniture. Needless to say, it’s not the kind of stuff you’d find at Motel 6.
Twelve of the rooms feature whirlpool baths, four have handicapped accessible bathrooms and all other rooms feature walk-in showers.
In November, the hotel’s restaurant, John J. Jeffries, will open.
“We want to emphasize locally grown food,” says Payne.
The restaurant will seat between 60 and 70 and will feature a large U-shaped bar. An outdoor area will be able to seat an additional 30 to 40 people.
And who was John J. Jeffries?
He was a 19th century tobacco farmer/dealer in Lancaster. Someone found an old advertising sheet featuring his name, which will be hung in the hotel.
And what about smoking in this former tobacco warehouse?
“All the rooms are 100 percent smoke free,” says Payne with a smile.
