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September 4, 2009

Comfort Inn gets OK for rebuild

By DAN HEATH

PLATTSBURGH — The Town of Plattsburgh has issued a building permit for reconstruction of the Comfort Inn complex.

“We couldn’t be more excited about being able to start,” co-owner Terry Meron said.

When he heard about the permit at noon Thursday, he immediately contacted Jeffords Steel representatives and asked them to put the project into the company’s schedule, as they will supply the steel and erect the framework of the complex.

That will determine when the rest of the work can proceed, but Meron needed the building permit before the steel could go up.

“We hope to find out in the next couple of days when they can plug us in.”



PREPARATION WORK

Meron and his team have worked with Jeffords on the engineering end and McKenna Associates on the architectural part of the plan.

“We’ve been making all kinds of planning decisions for months,” Meron said.

Larger items that take longer to deliver, such as elevators and granite counters, have already been ordered, he said. Numerous local subcontractors have been lined up to speed the construction.

Meron said his crews have done a lot of site preparation work so construction could proceed soon after the permit was obtained.

He submitted his original plan to the Town of Plattsburgh in mid June. The town hired an engineering firm from Glenville to go over that plan.

After numerous requests for more information and testing on the remaining structure, the plan was approved.



MORE SUITES

Meron said the Comfort Inn complex was about 120,000 square feet when it was heavily damaged by a massive fire in November.

A firewall saved 96 rooms in the three main hotel buildings, about 50,000 square feet. Meron retained as much of his staff as he could and had them work on cleaning those rooms, among other jobs.

About 45,000 square feet was torn down and will be rebuilt. Another 26,000 square feet needs to be renovated, including the Perkins restaurant, Legends Sports Bar, ballroom, family entertainment center and meeting space.

The new complex will feature a steel and concrete frame, rather than the previous wood.

The reconstruction will allow for changes to the complex. It will still have 112 hotel rooms, but the number of suites will increase from 26 to 35, including some up to 725 square feet.



BIGGER BALLROOM

The main ballroom will be larger and hold up to 312. The hotel will have four other meeting rooms, Meron said.

“That coincides with the (Plattsburgh-North Country) Chamber of Commerce making the availability of meeting space part of their marketing plan.”



HEALTH CLUB

The Health Club will grow by about 3,000 square feet, up to between 15,000 and 16,000 square feet.

The new plan removes the racquetball courts, which allows a larger locker room area, a second group-exercise area and more room for the strength and cardiovascular equipment.

The swimming pool will now have 105-foot and 84-foot water slides. There will also be a six-piece water spray park, with water flowing from arches and other features.



EATING AREAS

The Perkins restaurant will still seat 182 diners, Meron said.

The Legends Sports Bar will return but without the video game room. That will be replaced by a small lounge adjacent to the main bar, and the billiards and shuffleboard tables will return.



FAMILY FUN

The family entertainment center, the site of many youngsters’ birthday parties, will return. It will now be all on one level and include a nine-hole, glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course, a six-unit electric bumper-car area, video arcade and small seating area for pizza parties.

The entertainment center and water park will be marketed as a package for birthday parties, Meron said.

He hopes work will be done sometime next spring.

“I think we will be fortunate to get the frame up by the end of October. That doesn’t leave much good weather to get the shell up.”



E-mail Dan Heath at:

dheath@pressrepublican.com

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