NewHavenBIZ

n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | M a y / J u n e 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 35 Continued on Page 36 Is it BROKEN? BRANFORD 84 North Main Street Mon – Fri 3 pm – 8 pm Saturday 9 am – 5 pm Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm HAMDEN 2416 Whitney Avenue Mon – Fri 3 pm – 8 pm Saturday 9 am – 5 pm Sunday 8 am – 12 pm ORANGE 330 Boston Post Road Mon – Fri 3 pm – 8 pm Saturday 9 am – 5 pm Sunday 9 am – 2 pm Open Nights and Weekends ESSEX 12 Bokum Road Mon – Thurs 4 pm – 7 pm PRIORITY ACCESS Save time & call ahead 203.678.2402 ct-ortho.com FOCUS: Hotels anchored cities with reputations as hotbeds of entrepreneurism and corporate activity, as well as cities that boast substantial hospital systems and offer a range of leisure activities, according to company officials. On all fronts, New Haven fit the bill. "New Haven is a vibrant and dynamic community, rich with culture, history and traditions," Tim Ryan, AJ Capital's senior vice president for acquisitions, explains. "We look forward to welcoming a steady mix of leisure travelers, business travelers and of course visitors in town for campus-related functions." ose same qualities piqued Sal- vatore's interest in New Haven's ho- tel market a few years back, while he was developing the Novella, the luxury Chapel Street apartment project he opened in 2015. e more time he spent in the Elm City, the more he realized it was ripe for a new luxury hotel. "I saw that there was a real need, considering the demand generators around here," he said, referring to the Yale campus and the world- class research hospital on either side of the hotel, respectively. With limited downtown lodging, traveling executives, conference attendees and others have oen turned to hotels in suburban towns for overnight stays, says Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of Visit New Haven and head of the Connecticut Lodging Association. She said she has also heard from larger companies outside New Hav- en that their business guests would prefer to stay downtown. "ey don't necessarily want to stay in a suburban location where they don't have a place to go and eat and walk around," Kozlowski says. NYC meets HVN Named for Alice Blake, the first woman to graduate from Yale, the Blake houses six stories of guest rooms, each with upscale appointments, large subway-tiled stand-up showers and fully-stocked kitchenettes. In addition to a restaurant headed by a Michelin-starred chef, amenities include a high-tech fitness center, meeting spaces and a rooop lounge with a retractable glass roof, which is scheduled to open in June. e street-level restaurant, bar and adjoining lobby — which Salvatore says was intended to look like "a big living room"— were designed to flow into one another, creating what he envisions to be a social hub. Although single-night visitors are his target market, Salvatore says the extended-stay model fills For years the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale was the only full-service downtown hotel. Now it has company.

• Cover