Philadelphia

Hilton Home2 Suites Hotel’s Grand Opening – A Mini Resort Packaged as a Short Term Hotel across from Pa Convention Center

October 9, 2013 by HughE Dillon
It was just a year ago that Hilton Home2 Suites hotel broke ground at 12th and Arch in April 2012

Bill Duncan, Hilton, Jake Wurzak,
Howard Wurzak, Sen Larry Farnese, Mayor Nutter, Robert A. Zuritsky, Parkway Rick
Lyons, Capital One and State Rep Dwight Evan, guest, Jake Winigrad, Parkway Corp
Fast forward to last week where nearly the same people in charge of the project cut the ribbon to officially open the new
246 guest rooms, a beautiful, spacious lobby, and generous sized rooms including one bedroom suites

I think the Hilton brand hotel turned out a lot like the Parkway and the Wurzak Hotel Group drawing before the project was kicked off, don’t you?

The hotel was completed on time, and opened in August. Last week, on a day that could have been August with the temperatures hovering around 90, many of Philadelphia influencers and political might turned out to celebrate the opening of the hotel including
 

Councilman David Oh, Louise Kang and David Laegen
Chris Barone, Mary Frances Fogg, Don Lange

Huge breakfast selections, mostly continental, plus a waffle iron and a microwaveable sandwich,
Jake Wurzak, Dwight Evans, Robert A Zuritsky, Sen Vincent Hughes, David L. Hyman, ‎Managing Partner at Kleinbard Bell & Brecker LLP and Larry Ceisler, wwner, Ceisler Media
Full size laundry facilities
very impressive sized gym
a pool, models not included
work station in lobby, this hotel has everything. It’s a mini resort.
This is the studio suite. It has a privacy curtain, and a pull out sofa bed

Nancy C. O’Meara,  ‎Executive Director and Craft Show Manager at Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art checks out the rooms she blocked off for the upcoming PMA  Craft Show at the Pa Convention Center November 7 thru 10th. It’s fabulous, and I’ll be photographing the show for the third year in a row.

An impressive amount of people came out to check out the new hotel, the first one built from the ground up in Center City in the past 10 years. Many of the guests were in the hospitality field, and are instrumental to tourism in our City so they can give honest reviews on the best hotels, eateries, sights and sounds of the City.

Bill Duncan is the global head of brand management for Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton welcomes the guests as  Robert A. Zuritsky, Parkway Corp looks on.

Terry Gillian, Sen Larry Farnese, and former councilman Frank DiCicco
Paul Steinke, GM of Reading Terminal  (which is right across the street) and James Curato, president and CEO of the Visitors Center Corporation
Jake Wurzak is a partner and director of acquisitions and development at Wurzak Hotel Group.  and Kristin Wurzak with JoAnne and Howard Wurzak, CEO Wurzak Group
Wurzak Hotel Group CEO Howard Wurzak and his wife, JoAnne
Read more at http://phillystylemag.com/galleries/sheraton-valley-forges-grand-opening-event#dblg5iHqxhwjYC5d.99
The lobby is very spacious, and has this fabulous map of Philadelphia on one of the walls
Ron Werner, Arelene Peters, Paula Celletti-Baron and Alycia Scannapieco
Emily Nichols and Bonnie Grant
Donna D’Angelo and Ricci Vargas both of Parkway Corp. Did I mention the convenient Parkway parking garage next door to the hotel, and convention center?
Located at 1200 – 1212 Arch
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, the hotel will features over 2,000 square feet
of meeting space and 9,750 square feet for ground floor retail and restaurants. in fact Center City’s first Panera Bread will be one of the tenants.
The total project cost is $60 million and was partially funded with $2.75
million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funding and an
Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program (IFIP) grant from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Industrial Development
Corporation (PIDC) provided $5 million in HUD 108 loans and the building
will receive $3 million in EnergyWorks funding from PIDC and The Reinvestment
Fund. The energy conservation measures for the hotel will include a partial
green roof, high efficiency HVAC system and significant energy performance
upgrades, all in line with the Home2 Suites brand sustainability practices. 
L.F. Driscoll will oversee construction of the development.The project was finished one month before it’s schedule completion by the Philadelphia building trades.