Hotel Utica to state: Where's the money for our garage?

Financially strapped Hotel Utica has a moneymaker on its property that it can't use: Its parking garage.

Hotel management says government inaction is holding up renovation of the dilapidated structure, despite a pledge five years ago by then-Gov. George Pataki of $1 million in state funds to restore the garage.

Then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer even recommitted that money last year.

So what's the delay?

That's what hotel General Manager Tony Zaleski wants to know. He estimates the hotel is losing between $80,000 and $125,000 in parking revenue each year.

"The hotel has taken all the necessary steps to secure the money from the state," Zaleski said.

But state Empire State Development Corp. leaders say the process has been moving along. The state has met several times with hotel owners, and an offer letter could be sent out soon, spokeswoman Stefanie Zakowicz said.

When a private company seeks state dollars, the state development corporation has to ensure the project is truly for the public's benefit, she said.

Hotel Utica will have to go through what Zakowicz describes as a rigorous application process if it receives an offer letter for the garage funding.

If Hotel Utica accepts that funding, it would have to provide a wealth of details on how the project would be accomplished, Zakowicz said. And a timetable for the project would have to be established, she said.

"At that point, the process becomes fairly expedited and refined," the state spokeswoman said.

City officials recently contemplated using the state money for another purpose because it thought it could find other funding for the Hotel Utica garage.

The $1 million in state funding might have gone toward a downtown parking garage planned for Charlotte Street, Urban and Economic Development Commissioner Robert Sullivan said.

But since Hotel Utica has applied for the money, the funds must go for the hotel's garage, Sullivan said. The city will have to pursue other funding for its own garage.

Zaleski said the hotel is eagerly awaiting the money the state has promised.

"We have an asset here that is under utilized because we've never been able to get that commitment honored," he said.

The Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre benefits from leasing 235 spaces in a city-owned garage. The contract was drawn up in 1979 when the hotel was being developed.

Observer-Dispatch