Corrections or additions?
These articles by Melinda Sherwood and Barbara Fox were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on July 21,
1999. All rights reserved.
Stay with Us, or Us, or . .
Inns already line the Route 1 corridor like the casinos
on the Atlantic City shore, but a second wave in hotel development
has just begun: Two new hotels, Courtyard by Marriott and Extended
Stay America, have recently opened their doors, bringing the total
number of hotel/motel rooms in the area up to 3,930. And four more
new inns could join the mass between Trenton and South Brunswick within
the next year.
Despite an increasingly competitive environment, Joseph Sirianni,
general manager of the new Courtyard by Marriott on Mapleton Road,
on the site of the old Holiday Inn, says there is still a market for
hotels catering to the business traveler. “We never would have
opened up if we believed that the area was going to be saturated,”
he says.
The 153-room Courtyard is among a new generation of hotels setting
the standard for business travelers, offering high tech quarters fitted
to the yuppie lifestyle without hotel flourishes like four-star restaurants
and gift shops. Courtyard rooms, for example, come equipped with a
second phone line and dataport for PCs. Guests have free access to
the exercise room, indoor pool and jacuzzi. At $124 a night, the Courtyard
costs roughly $50 more than low-end motels, and $50 less than a luxury
hotel room. “I don’t believe there are a lot in this area that
are cheaper,” Sirianni says. “The McIntosh is cheaper, but
that’s more of a motel type thing.”
This is Sirianni’s first time running a franchise of a major hotel
chain. In his former life, he was a chef. He earned an associates
degree at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Class of
1979, before joining the family business, Sirianni’s Friendly Cafe,
in Long Branch. In 1989, he became a chef at the Marriott Marquis
in Manhattan and gradually started to cross-train, moving from kitchen
to lobby regularly. Now he reserves cooking for his wife and two children
in Long Branch.
Under Sirianni’s reign, the Courtyard has maintained a 60 percent
occupancy in its first month, with most clients staying Monday through
Wednesday. “It doesn’t really sound that good,” says Sirianni,
“but it’s good considering it’s been open less than three weeks.”
Eventually he expects occupancy in the 80 percent range (https://www.courtyard.com).
Hearty competition is already in place, however. Although it’s geared
towards long-term travelers, Extended Stay America, which just opened
on Route 1 North above Novotel, is starting to look like one of the
best deals in town, even for overnight business stays. At only $74
a night (or about $51 a night if you book for more than five nights),
each room has a kitchenette, fully-loaded with dishes, pots and pans,
as well as an extra phone line and dataport for PCs. Guests also have
access to laundry facilities and, perhaps in the near future, passes
to the nearby Gold’s Gym.
Only two of Extended Stay’s four floors are ready for occupancy, but
already the hotel has been booked solid. The facility will have 129
rooms and “I can’t open rooms fast enough,” says Robert Kowal,
general manager of Extended Stay, and former assistant general manager
at the Holiday Inn in Jamesburg. “We’re the first hotel of our
type,” he says. “We’re trying to appeal to business travelers
for the value of staying about a week, and we have the best prices
in the area.” The price for a full week is roughly $380 (https://www.extstay.com).
Meanwhile the planning board pipelines are filling with still more
hotel projects. Among them:
Hilton Garden Inn. Negotiations are currently underwayfor the building of a 151-room Hilton Garden Inn, a franchise of HiltonHotels, reportedly between the Princeton BMW dealership and the PrincetonService Center on Route 1 north. The Hilton Garden Inn concept offersthat familiar “residential atmosphere with a strong business orientation,”according to a company fact sheet.Hilton Garden Inns are designed with office plug-ins and a desk, aswell as a microwave oven, coffee maker, and refrigerator. Guests haveaccess to a business center with computer, photocopier, and fax, anexercise room, spa, swimming pool, a casual restaurant, and a retailmarket so that guests may buy microwavable items and heat them upin their rooms — just like a night at home. Rates are expectedto be in the $75 to $95 range.Marriott Towne Place Suites. An upstate New York developer,Home Away From Home, expects to start construction this fall of a143-room hotel near Quaker Bride Mall, behind the proposed GeneralMotors auto mall at Route 1 and Grovers Mill Road. The Marriott TownePlace concept is intended to appeal to extended stay visitors andfamilies needing interim housing while waiting to move into a newhome.Embassy Suites. The plan calls for 154 rooms in SouthBrunswick.Sierra Suites. Another South Brunswick project, this onewould add 112 rooms to the supply.Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. This 200-room projectis apparently underway in downtown Trenton — and will eliminateTrenton’s distinction as the only state capital without a hotel.Once the hotel boom comes to an end, there could be as 4,500rooms between Lawrenceville and South Brunswick. Although the numberssuggest market saturation, the swell in hotel development tells adifferent story: a room is never just a room.Princeton Courtyard by Marriott, 3815 Route 1,Princeton 08540. Joseph P. Sirianni, general manager. 609-716-9100;fax, 609-716-8745.Extended Stay America, 4230 Route 1, South Brunswick08852. Robert Kowal, general manager. 732-438-5010; fax, 732-438-5015.Top Of PageShort-term HousingTo measure whether Central Jersey really does need morehotels catering to long-term stay business travelers, look at theshort-term apartment business. It’s flourishing. Arlene Goldberg andDarlene DeLorenzo have opened showroom number six for Churchill CorporateServices at Princeton Commerce Center. With a headquarters in Somersetand a warehouse in Hawthorn, Churchill manages 800 rentals in theNew York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area. “We grab up leasesand assume the liability for filling them,” says Goldberg.Goldberg and DeLorenzo worked for the Princeton office of a furniturerental company before joining Churchill, and they have added 50 short-termrentals to Churchill’s roster. Churchill rents furniture but it alsoprovides housing in condos, townhouses, and apartments. “All theyhave to do is get a key and bring in their clothes,” says Goldberg.”We do soup to nuts. We sign the leases in our name. We make thebeds and set up the kitchen, from dishes to potato peeler.”In this real estate market, short-term rentals are at a premium. “Themarket has changed dramatically. There is no availability,” saysGoldberg. She sees an increased need for short-term housing particularlyfor pharmaceutical executives. “Realtors and property managementcompanies need our services.”Nick Lambiase, property manager of Fresh Ponds, a corporate apartmentcommunity in Dayton, says the market is indeed tight, and that hehas no openings until September.Corporate rentals offer a homier and less expensive alternative tothe hotels, says Goldberg, citing typical hotel rates of $100 pernight or $3,000 per month versus a typical corporate apartment for$2,000 with a complete kitchen “and they are living a normal lifestyle.”With the lack of a full-size kitchen as an excuse, hotel residentsprobably bill their company an additional per diem for dinners.Churchill’s bill is slightly more than Fresh Ponds, which rents afurnished two-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment for $2,095 to $2,595 ona three-month lease. But Churchill lets you pick out new or just re-upholsteredfurniture rather than take what’s there, and the cost is scalable.For instance, you can bring or buy your own pictures or rent walldecor for $100 to $150 per month (https://www.churchillcorp.com).Churchill’s tenants also have the advantage of livingside by side with long-term residents in their choice of communities.A family trying to decide where to locate permanently can try outa particular school system. “Thirty percent of our clients havechildren and want to be in — for instance — Plainsboro, NorthBrunswick, West Windsor, Hillsborough, or Belle Mead,” says Goldberg.A family that is “between houses” (their house is sold buttheir new house is not ready, a common dilemma today) can convenientlystay in the school system. “When the sellers have no place togo, it is cheaper and safer to put stuff in storage than to move ittwice,” says Goldberg.”We also have a number of international executives. We find outtheir budget and priorities and what their taste is — traditional,contemporary, light or dark, plus we take into consideration the actualproperty they are moving into. Within one and a half hours, you canhave a beautiful home.”Those who can visit the showroom can make more specific choices. Onecorporate executive brought a video camera and took pictures of theshowroom so his wife could do the choosing. Most of the furnitureis new but Churchill also has upholsterers and refinishers on staff.Goldberg, a Brooklyn native, was advertising manager for Preview Productionsin Hightstown for eight years and has worked in the furniture rentalbusiness since 1991. Her daughter was a rental agent in Plainsboroand has just been hired by Churchill, and her son is working at theHyatt while going to Mercer County College. DeLorenzo, a sales associate,grew up in Jamesburg and worked for J&J Dental Products and in thegarment industry before joining Goldberg in the furniture business.A perk of this business can be celebrity contact. When the film crewfor the movie IQ came to town five years ago, Goldberg had a briefbrush with Hollywood fame. She “did” all of the crew’s furniturefor its temporary office on Alexander Road plus the house for FrankCapra III on Route 206, plus temporary furniture for the actual residentsof Albert Einstein’s real home on Mercer Street. The company filmedthe movie in the look-alike house next door to the real one, but tomake it more authentic, it borrowed the furniture that Einstein hadused. Goldberg’s job was to provide substitute furniture to the tenants.”They were given carte blanche to come into the showroom to filltheir house until the filming was over.” Her big disappointment:she did not get to supply furniture to Meg Ryan.Churchill Corporate Services, 29 Emmons Drive,Princeton 08540. Arlene Goldberg, account executive. 609-514-1514;fax, 609-514-1614. URL: https://www.churchillcorp.com.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
