NewHavenBIZ

14 n e w h a v e n B I Z | N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 0 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m Hanging On H o t e l I n d u s t r y T o see New Haven Harbor from the top of the Pirelli building, you have to look past a parking lot, a raw stretch of Sargent Drive and the congested sprawl of Interstate 95. ere, beyond the ugliness, lies an expanse of blue-gray water. In a similar fashion, New Haven hoteliers are looking beyond the economic ugliness of recent months for the recovery of the once-boom- ing industry, laid low by the corona- virus pandemic. "We have optimism for next summer, next fall to improve, but not to get back to 2019's numbers. at's not realistic," said Steve Matiatos, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott New Haven at Yale and president of the Connecticut Lodging Association. "ere's that type of optimism for Battered hotel industry looks to the future for relief By Liese Klein the road ahead, but it's more of a long-term rather than a short-term resolution." e start of the school year and the partial reopening of area col- leges have failed to bring a signif- icant number of travelers to New Haven as the pandemic continues to rage, industry experts said. A slight bump in hotel occupan- cy over the summer due to refugees from August's tropical storm sub- sided quickly, and the usual flood of parents and prospective students failed to materialize. e summer months of June, July and August saw hotel occupancy in New Haven County drop to 49.5 percent this year compared to 73 percent for the same period in 2019, according to hotel market data firm STR. Average daily room rates also dropped to $94 in 2020 from $114 a night last year. Statewide, hotel occupancy in August this year dropped to 55 percent compared to 71.5 percent in August 2019, with average daily room rates dropping to $109 from $124, according to the most recent data available. Shoreline hotels did the most business this summer as city dwellers sought out local beaches. "Leisure travel seems to be coming back but our concern is that business travel is still not happening," said Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of both Visit New Haven and the Connecticut Lodg- ing Association. "Until business travel starts to return on a meaningful level we are cautious going into what would normally be a very busy time of year for us." One bright spot in the industry is mid-sized bed and breakfasts, which have jumped in the "micro event" business by hosting small weddings and other scaled-back celebrations. Boutique hotels in cities are also "holding their own," Kozlowski said, due to customers upgrading their reservations thanks to lower prices. Boutique trend Small, stylish and appealing to younger customers, boutique hotels have multiplied in the state's urban centers, none more so than in New Haven. e past several years alone have seen the opening of Graduate New Haven in the former Hotel Duncan and e Blake at High and George streets. e newcomers joined veteran boutique hotel e Study at Yale, which saw its room rates rise to nearly big-city levels before the pandemic hit – with valet parking costing $32. e trend toward smaller, more high-end properties shows no sign of abating in the area, with plans under way for a 132-room Hilton Garden Inn on Elm and Orange streets, and a 130-room Cambria hotel due to start construction in November on Route 34 near Yale New Haven Hospital. Stamford developer Randy Sal- vatore, who cut the ribbon on the e Blake in February, renovated a historic building and opened the 94-room e Lloyd in Stamford in August. Salvatore said e Blake was holding its own in the difficult New Haven lodging market. "It's going as well as possible," Salvatore said. "We're in it for the long haul." Boutique hotels in general are attracting more business due to their appeal to upscale consumers, Salvatore added. It's those long-term prospects that keep Bruce Becker optimistic about the most visible new entrant in New Haven's boutique hotel sweepstakes – the upscale lodgings planned for the former Pirelli Building on Interstate 95. Empty for two decades, this landmark of Bru- talist architecture has appealed to Becker since his grad-school days at Yale. Designed by Bauhaus star Marcel Breuer and built in 1968, the blocky, concrete-clad structure features artistic use of "negative space" between its two main units and has long polarized New Haven residents. Ikea bought the building in 2003 but its reuse was stymied by 1960s-era spray-on fireproofing full of asbestos. "As an architect I've been fas- cinated by the Pirelli building for some time," said Becker, a principle at Becker + Becker Architects in Westport. e Modernist landmark represented both a commercial opportunity and a preservation Steve Matiatos An architect's rendering of the Hotel Marcel and its adjacent parking garage, now under construction in the landmark Pirelli Building off Sargent Drive.

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