BY R.J. DELUKE
“It’s very exciting,” Michael Consuelo, executive
director of the Lake George Regional
Chamber of Commerce said about work going
on this summer on the village’s busy Canada
Street where a Marriott Courtyard Hotel is being
constructed.
“It’s a pleasure to see the activities taking
place” on the block on Canada Street’s west side (away from the lake) where Guiseppe’s Pizzeria
and John Barleycorn’s Pub used to sit.
A zoning change in 2013 made it possible for
a six-story hotel to be built, which is what local
David Kenny is doing, with the Pike Company of
Clifton Park as the general contractor.
The work is taking place just south of Lake
George Central School and across the street from
the public library.
So far, the foundation has been laid and now
steel girders are going up that will support the
new hotel and conference center.
“Everyone is looking forward to next spring”
when the facility is open and starts drawing business
and people. It will be a year-round hotel and
convention center and Consuelo hopes it helps
spawn other businesses that won’t close in the
cold winter month.
The Marriott is being developed by Kenny
Dittrich Amherst LLC, which is Dave Kenny, his
sister Kathleen and her husband, Frank Dittrich.
It will be a 119-room hotel on an approximately
two-acre plot. It is reported to cost in the
neighborhood of $26 million, with construction
costs estimated at $15 million to $18 million,
financed through TD Bank.
There will be 38 suites with lake and mountain
views. A 6,000-square-foot restaurant is
planned, along with 2,500 square feet of retail
space and two 5,000-square-foot banquet rooms
with lake views.
The opening is anticipated for May 2016.
Consuelo said he has been going to trade
shows where there are meeting and convention
planners. Even without a lot of materials to hand
out, yet, regarding the facility the mere mention
has sparked interest.
“So there is an awful lot of attention about it.
Marriott does very well in the convention arena
at its hotels in the United States and around the
world. There’s a lot of interest from potential
meeting planners.”