By Jason Henderson, who runs the blog “Ithaca Builds.”
Ithaca, N.Y. — The downtown Hampton Inn project has chosen to become one of the first eleven hotels in the United States and England to build the newly-released Canopy by Hilton.
As noted in Hilton’s press release last week, the Ithaca Commons project will take part in Hilton’s new “Canopy” brand, which plans to cater to travelers that would like a more local, and leisurely, experience.
Other cities that will see the “new hotel concept” of Canopy include London, Miami and San Diego.
“Canopy by Hilton is the streetlamp of the neighborhood. We are all about being local, through design, food and beverage, art, and local know-how,” the press release said. “No two Canopy hotels will be the same, and we know that’s what our guests want.”
The renderings released last month by the project team of Baywood Hotels, Architects Group One Partners, and Whitham Planning and Design seem to reflect the Canopy branding and design approach.
The planned seven-story hotel sits in roughly the footprint of the former Strand Theatre (parking lot behind the Carey Building) and the City’s municipal parking lot.
The ground floor would include a 2,000 square foot restaurant tenant, a cafe/retreat area, and hotel programming space and the second floor is planned to contain a fitness room, board room, and meeting room. Guest rooms would fill the remaining portion of the second floor and all the way up to the seventh, along with a roof terrace. The project is currently in site plan review at the City of Ithaca Planning Board.
Here’s the press kit portion explaining the amenities, along with the September render and plan release:
