Trenton is moving closer to taking control of the long-vacant former Marriott hotel downtown, nearly two years after the state committed $4 million to help the city acquire the troubled property.
City Council voted Tuesday, Oct. 6, to authorize the city to pursue the New Jersey Economic Development Authority funding needed to complete a proposed $4 million purchase of the former Lafayette Yard hotel at 1 W. Lafayette St.
The purchase agreement makes the city’s obligation to close contingent on receiving the state grant, according to the city.
If the deal is completed, Trenton would acquire the property and then move it into private redevelopment. City Council has already designated Tetrabilt as redeveloper.
The city’s current goal is to return the property to use as a modern downtown hotel serving state government, businesses, visitors, conventions and events.
“This property has been sitting in the center of our downtown for far too long, but buying it back simply for the sake of buying it back was never the answer,” Mayor W. Reed Gusciora said. “We needed a viable financial path, State partnership, a redevelopment strategy and a Council willing to move that strategy forward. Those pieces have finally come together.”
The council action marks a significant step in an effort that dates to 2024, when the NJEDA approved up to $4 million for Trenton through its Local Property Acquisition Grant Program.
The NJEDA board approved the award in November 2024 specifically to acquire the vacant property at 1 W. Lafayette St. Trenton qualified to receive funding covering up to 100% of the appraised property value because it is both a Transitional Aid community and a Government Restricted Municipality.
At the time, the city was still at the beginning of the redevelopment process.
The proposal presented to the state in 2024 envisioned a mixed-use project combining a smaller hotel with residential and commercial uses. State redevelopment officials said at the time that the city intended to acquire the property and seek a developer to transform it into a mixed-use downtown project.
The city announced the grant in November 2024 and said acquiring the property would give Trenton control of the disposition process and allow it to select an experienced developer. The asking price had previously been an obstacle to redevelopment, Gusciora said at the time.
Much has happened since then.
The city sought developers interested in rehabilitating and reopening the hotel, went through negotiations and due diligence on the property and eventually designated Tetrabilt as redeveloper.
A later city request for proposals continued to envision a hotel as the anchor use but acknowledged that the nearly 200-room building was larger than the market appeared to require.
The RFP said the hotel historically had demand for about 100 room nights and suggested that a redevelopment could “right size” the hotel and use remaining portions of the building for other revenue-producing uses, potentially including market-rate residences, extended-stay accommodations, retail, restaurants or other commercial space.
Those possibilities provide background to the redevelopment process, but the city’s Oct. 7 announcement puts the emphasis on restoring a functioning hotel.
Following acquisition, Trenton anticipates entering into transfer and redevelopment agreements with Tetrabilt that would spell out what happens to the property.
Council President Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg said the latest action moves a prominent downtown property closer to redevelopment.
“This is exactly the kind of progress we want to see in downtown Trenton,” Figueroa Kettenburg said. “I am excited about the opportunity to finally bring new life to a building that has sat vacant for far too long. Council looks forward to continuing to work together with the Administration to make this happen and to build on the momentum we are seeing throughout downtown.”
The property has a long history tied to efforts to revive downtown Trenton.
The Lafayette Yard hotel and conference center opened for business April 2, 2002, after being developed with significant public involvement.
The project included a roughly 200-room hotel and about 40,000 square feet of meeting space adjacent to the Trenton War Memorial. The city guaranteed bonds used to help finance the hotel, while the Trenton Parking Authority issued $21 million in bonds that helped finance a garage serving the project.
The hotel was envisioned as a downtown anchor capable of attracting government travelers, conventions, meetings and visitors to the capital city.
It operated under the Marriott flag, but the project struggled financially.
Marriott’s association with the hotel ended in 2013, and the property continued operating under other arrangements before eventually closing.
The building’s problems were not limited to its finances. By 2018, after the hotel had shut down, it had been deemed unsafe and remained empty.
Its closure left a large vacant building in a particularly visible location close to the State House complex, War Memorial and other government and entertainment destinations.
The property has consequently remained a recurring target for redevelopment efforts.
The state grant awarded in 2024 sought to address one of the central problems: the cost of getting control of the property before a developer could begin the expensive process of rehabilitating it.
Rather than requiring a private developer to both purchase the building and fund its redevelopment, the state assistance allows Trenton to acquire it and then negotiate with a developer over its future.
The process has not always moved quickly.
In May 2025, the city publicly pushed back against reports that developers touring the property were considering tearing down the hotel. At the time, Trenton said it remained interested in acquiring the building and was still working through legal, financial and property issues.
The city said any demolition proposal would only be considered if it was directly connected to construction of a new hotel and would require approval from both the administration and City Council.
Trenton issued another request for proposals for the property in July 2025, seeking respondents with experience owning and operating hotels.
Now, more than a year later, the city says the pieces needed to complete the acquisition are coming together.
The proposed purchase price matches the amount of the NJEDA grant: $4 million.
The arrangement limits the city’s financial exposure by making the purchase dependent on receiving the state money.
Once the city owns the building, however, another phase begins. Trenton and Tetrabilt would still have to complete the agreements governing the transfer and redevelopment of the property.
The eventual redevelopment also will have to overcome many of the same challenges that have followed the hotel for years, including the condition of a building that has been vacant for an extended period and determining the right size and mix of uses for the downtown market.
But city officials see restoring hotel service as important to broader downtown redevelopment.
A working hotel could serve people doing business with state government, visitors to Trenton, convention and meeting attendees and patrons of nearby events while putting more people within walking distance of downtown restaurants and businesses.
Gusciora said that activity is as important as the redevelopment of the building itself.
“A functioning hotel does more than fill hotel rooms,” he said. “It brings people downtown. Those visitors eat in our restaurants, patronize our businesses, attend events and create demand for additional investment. Getting this building back into productive use can have a catalytic effect well beyond this one property.”
The Oct. 6 vote does not mean the hotel has been purchased or that redevelopment is ready to begin.
It does, however, move the city substantially closer to taking control of a property it has been trying to reposition for years.
For a building originally intended to help anchor downtown revitalization when it opened in 2002, the city is now preparing for another attempt at making it serve that role.
