Trenton finally gets a downtown hotel
For 16 years, the capital of New Jersey has been without a hotel; but that will change this week when Trenton celebrates the opening of the Lafayette Yard Marriott Conference Hotel. City leaders have high expectations for the 197-room facility; it is the latest of three developments (joining the city’s minor league baseball park and sports arena) designed to spur downtown revitalization.
With 85,000 residents, Trenton is home to New Jersey’s capitol and state office buildings, where more than 20,000 people are employed. As the state erected government offices in the 1960s, it razed townhomes and commercial buildings. Stores closed, and businesses pulled out. Despite the number of people coming into downtown each day, the district was empty at night.
The sports facilities, which opened in 1994 and 1999, attracted visitors, yet the city remained embarrassed by the fact that those visitors had no place to stay. Even guests of the state have long had to go to Princeton or even into Pennsylvania to find overnight accommodations.
Excitement runs high as Trenton prepares for the hotel’s opening. “[The hotel will] change the entire image of the city,” businessman Shelley Zeiger told the New York Times a week ago. “I’m getting calls now from developers and people from chain stores. Once they see the crowds and the enthusiasm, they’ll come.”