This awards program also offers you the opportunity to meet and share in the success of Western New York’s most successful architects, engineers, developers and contractors in WNY!

FINALIST:

Best Retail/Restaurant
Four Points by Sheraton, Niagara Falls
Architect/engineer: Stephen Berry Architectural | Owner: Merani Holdings LLC | General contractor: Waterbourne Construction Advisors Inc.

By Norma Higgs
Niagara Gazette

July 11, 2011

Another new kid on the block. OK, this is not a kid. This is a 141-room hotel complimented by 8,500 sq. ft. of meeting and banquet space and loads of other amenities that will take your breath away.

I recently attended the grand opening of the Four Points by Sheraton and was totally blown away by what this family had accomplished when they took on the daunting task of remodeling and restoring the former Treadway Inn, later known as the Red Jacket Inn and Inn On The River at 7001 Buffalo Ave.

From the moment you drive into the spacious parking lot bordered by plantings and flowers of every color and continue to walk through the grand covered entranceway into the welcoming lobby, you will take notice of this place. Can’t help it — it is decorated to create a sense of calm after a journey and the feeling that all will be well, right here, right now.

It seemed just the time to talk to my Niagara Beautification Commission annual award luncheon committee about the possibility of booking our event here. Better than that, the Spotlight Award Committee beat me to it and announced they were presenting the July award to the Merani family. Eleven of us swooped into the public dining area last week and enjoyed a great lunch, each other’s company and the ambiance and welcome feeling of the owner and staff. And, we did not leave until we booked our event for Sept. 8.

Faisal Merani is the president of the successful Merani Hotel Group, operating on both sides of the Niagara River. He and his father Ashak Merani have been in this business for many years and it looks like they are here to stay as they will begin another adventure in remodeling and restoration this fall at 401 Buffalo Ave. More about that later.

Why would they purchase these two long-vacant and distressed properties and spend time, talent and money to bring them back? Once you look at them the words location, location, location comes to mind. Both properties sit at or near the beautiful upper Niagara River and the Four Points offers docking for boaters (Faisal said three 30-footers pulled in on Sunday), beautiful views and convenient locations for travelers and locals alike.

Rumors were confirmed in April 2010 and shortly thereafter the Niagara County IDA stepped up with a tax relief plan to assist in the planned $5 million private and family investment. The Meranis were not strangers to this side of the Niagara Falls sisters as they have owned and operated the Holiday Inn near the entry to Goat Island since 2005. Across the River they offer the Days Inn & Suites and Sterling, a boutique, luxury hotel, which includes a spa and the upscale restaurant AG.

The design and remodeling took 12 months of planning and hard work but the results are worth it. Faisal stated they decided early on that a patch-up was not in their best interest and decided to spend some money and make it nice. They picked the LaSalle location to get their feet wet as it needed less work than the downtown one. And “nice” it is, which is a modest description to say the least. The Four Points designation was the icing on the cake.

We all noticed the bar has been moved to the opposite wall, the dining area can be split for small private parties, the beautiful heated indoor pool is right where it always was and is now joined by a fitness center for guests. There are 141 guest rooms offering three different styles — two queens, one king and a king suite with a sleeper sofa. There is a bridal suite and weddings can be performed on site. Rates are on a competitive scale, with breakfast included and the restaurant menu is affordable. The wine list includes some local offerings and there are plans for special events.

The Niagara Beautification Commission is proud to recognize the efforts and dollars invested to bring this riverfront location just a stone’s throw from the Grand Island Bridge back to life once more. No more weeds in the parking lot.

The work will begin all over again at 401 Buffalo Ave. this fall when some demolition and redesign will begin. The ballroom will remain and plans include the circle dining room as well. The Merani family hopes to be celebrating another grand opening in 2013. And, we will probably be planning our 2013 Annual Awards luncheon at this location.

Norma Higgs serves with the Niagara Beautification Commission and Niagara Falls Block Club Council. Her columns appear Mondays in the Gazette.

To read the full article please visit: www.niagara-gazette.com/columns/x1227516228/HIGGS-Visiting-the-all-new-Four-Points-by-Sheraton

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — A landmark hotel on Buffalo Avenue In Niagara Falls celebrated a new life Thursday night. An open house gave area residents a chance to see the results of a multi million dollar investment. “It’s the old Red Jacket Inn, which is kind of an institution here in Niagara falls. We had a lot of weddings and a lot of proms in this building. And, unfortunately it kind of fell into disrepair for a few years. So, when we purchased it, we decided to bring it back to its glory days,” remembered Faisal Merani, president of LaSalle Hospitality Incorporated, the hotel’s new owner.

After 18 months of renovations…The hotel has reopened under the Four Points by Sheraton name. The entire building from top to bottom has been redone with an eye on bringing in large events. “We are really going after the wedding market here. We have a three hundred person banquet room with views of the river and we are really trying to get some boat traffic out there. You can actually pull up your boat right outside of our patio and come out for a drink and some lunch,” Merani added. The 141 room hotel has already seen steady bookings since it’s recent opening.

“One of the things that we’re recognizing is that we have a shortage of hotel rooms at three diamond and above level. We need to get those on line as soon as possible, because if people can’t find a place to stay here in Niagara Falls…then they can’t find a way to spend money here,” explained City of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster.

The new hotel sits outside of the downtown tourist district. But, with a faltering national economy, do the owners believe there is a need for more hotel space? “We actually do have another hotel in the city as well…which we bought about five years ago. Every year it has been doing better business than the year before. So, we decide now is the time to build an other hotel. The area definitely needs it,” Marani answered.

“This is a waterfront location. One of the great things about this site is that you can pull up here in a boat. There is tremendous opportunities for some synergies with the waterfront at this location,” Mayor Dyster added. The price tag for the renovations reached seven million dollars. The owners are already looking forward to their first banquet booked for later this month.

To read the full article, please visit: www.wkbw.com/news/video/Niagara-Falls-Hotel-Reopens-123593799.html

NIAGARA FALLS — For the Merani family, it is now officially one down and one to go. Today, the local hotel developers are celebrating the grand opening of the Four Points by Sheraton, the newly renovated hotel that has replaced the old the Inn on the River on Buffalo Avenue in LaSalle.

The hotel features 141 rooms, a full-service restaurant, a 2,500-square-foot patio and four meeting rooms, the largest of which can accommodate up to 400 people. All carpeting, fixtures and other leftovers from the old hotel property have been replaced in keeping with standards set by the Four Points by Sheraton hotel chain.

The formal grand opening celebration will take this evening, but the new hotel has been catering to customers since a soft opening on May 19. So far, Merani said, business has been brisk, including sellouts every Saturday since the doors opened.

“We’re looking forward to a good season,” Merani said.

Merani is the son of prominent local hotelier Ashak Merani, who owns the Holiday Inn on Buffalo Avenue and the Days Inn & Suites and the Sterling Inn and Spa in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

LaSalle Hospitality Inc. purchased the old Inn on the River hotel property in 2009. A second company headed by Faisal Merani, Merani Hospitality Inc., also purchased the former Fallside Hotel and Conference Center at 401 Buffalo Ave. at that time.

On Wednesday, Faisal Merani said now that the renovation work is completed at the Four Points by Sheraton location, he will turn his attention to renovating and reopening the old Fallside hotel as promised. Merani said there is still a good deal of design work to be done for that project ,which he expects to involve a significant amount of demolition. He hopes to be able to begin actual work on the site sometime this fall.

“That’s definitely next on the agenda,” he said.

Contact Mark Scheer

at 282-2311, ext. 2250.

For the full article please visit www.niagara-gazette.com/local/x1107772797/Grand-opening

NIAGARA FALLS — An eight-story hotel undergoing a top-to-bottom renovation on the edge of the Niagara River couldn’t open fast enough for Faisal Merani.

“This summer we wished we had 150 more rooms to sell,” said Merani, who is overseeing the top-to-bottom renovation of the shuttered Inn on the River on Buffalo Avenue.

After a bruising summer tourist season in 2009, hotels in Niagara Falls — like those across the state—showed signs of a rebound this summer. Numbers used to measure the health of the industry saw an uptick in July and August compared to what many hoteliers described as a dismal summer last year.

That leaves hotel owners cautiously optimistic about the future, but still wary about year-end numbers that have remained below state and national averages for years.

“Everything fell in place this year,” said Galeb Rizek, co-owner of the Econo Lodge at the Falls North on Niagara Falls Boulevard. “Last year, not only the economy, but the weather was awful.”

In an industry that can hinge on rain or the national mood, local hoteliers such as Rizek and Merani see progress in the slowly increasing occupancy rates and room rates that hotels in the city have seen in recent years. Occupancy, room rates and revenue- per-available room have increased in all but one of the last seven years in Niagara Falls, with all three hotel indicators dropping in 2009.

This year, occupancy rates through the end of August in the city were up 6.5 percent compared to the same time last year, according to Smith Travel Research reports provided by the New York State Hospitality&Tourism Association. Hotels across the state have seen similar increases so far this year.

“We’ve had a very positive summer compared to last year,” said Geoffrey Reeds, director of marketing at the 391-room Crowne Plaza Hotel on Third Street. “Occupancy has been up slightly. We’ve had a very good convention summer, so we feel positive about the summer as a whole.”

Several hotel owners said they’ve seen a boost this year from American travelers who are choosing Niagara Falls as a cheaper vacation option.

“People that were going to Orlando on a four-day, five-day trip that would cost them a couple thousand have cut back,” Rizek said. Those same travelers, Rizek said, might instead spend $600 on a two-day trip to Niagara Falls.

New rules that went into effect last year requiring travelers entering the United States to have passports also have helped hotels as American travelers stay on the U. S. side of the falls.

“People are not wanting to spend the dollars to get the whole family into passports and so they’re making the decision to stay on the U. S. side,” Reeds said.

Long-time hotel owners have seen the hot-and-cold nature of the industry in Niagara Falls for years.

Merani, whose father, Ashak, first bought into the hotel business in 1971 in Niagara Falls, Ont., has seen growth each year since his family bought another hotel on Buffalo Avenue in 2005. That hotel, recently renovated, is now a Holiday Inn.

Had he been able to open the former Inn on the River before this summer tourist season, he said, he would have seen strong demand for the 142 rooms.

The building, now under a more than $7 million renovation, is slated to open as a Four Points by Sheraton early next year.

“Next summer,” Faisal said of the extra rooms, “we’re going to have them.”

djgee@buffnews.com

To read the full article, please visit: www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/niagara-falls/article201602.ece