Syracuse, NY — The owner of the Crowne Plaza, one of Syracuse’s largest and best known hotels, is planning to transition the property into a residential apartment building.
The plan would convert the 277-room hotel into a building with 287 residential units, while keeping the ground floor restaurant open, according to a proposal filed with the Syracuse Planning Commission.
The iconic 20-story round hotel at 701 E. Genesee St. is owned by Clearwater, Fla.-based TJM Properties. The planning commission will review the plan at its next meeting on May 6. TJM has not responded to a syracuse.com request for more information.
The Crowne Plaza plan, combined with Syracuse University’s recent decision to convert its Sheraton Hotel near campus into dorms, could be “devastating” to the city’s convention business, said Danny Liedka, president of Visit Syracuse, the area’s tourism agency.
The Sheraton has 200 hotel rooms, which will be converted into a 400-bed dorm this fall. With the Crown Plaza proposal, that means a potential loss of 477 rooms in the downtown/SU area.
The Crowne Plaza, the Sheraton and the Marriott Syracuse Downtown are the three main hotels supporting events at the Onondaga County Convention Center and nearby venues, Liedka said. The Marriott (formerly the Hotel Syracuse), has 315 rooms.
“That’s shutting down two of our three main hotels, so it’s going to make our convention business extremely difficult, at least in the short term,” Liedka said. “I think it will right itself eventually, but it’s going to take time, perhaps a few years.”
TJM Properties purchased the Crown Plaza for $15.2 million in 2016. It attempted to sell the property at auction in 2023, but that did not go through. The hotel dates to 1969, and has had several prior owners and names,
In February, the hotel was damaged in a fire that broke out on its top floor.
In another hotel transaction in the area, SU recently bought the Hotel Skyler, a 58-room “boutique” hotel at 601 S. Crouse Ave. SU plans to keep it operating as a hotel for now.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at [email protected]or follow him at NYup.comHon Twitter or Facebook.
