By James Fink
Buffalo Business First Reporter
The first hotel to carry the Wyndham flag is slated to open next year on the former Stereo Advantage site in Amherst.
William Paladino, Ellicott Development Co. chief executive officer, confirmed his company has signed a long-term deal to bring a 120-room Wyndham Garden Hotel & Suites to the $28 million project currently under development at the corner of Main Street and S. Forest Road. The hotel is due to open by August 2013, Paladino said.
“It’s a nice brand and perfect for that spot in Amherst,” Paladino said.
Ellicott Development, through its 5000 Group LLC affiliate, has been putting together the mixed-use hotel/up-scale apartment project for that site for nearly one year. It comes as Stereo Advantage has consolidated most of its operations to the nearby Walker Center.
The project has been approved by various Amherst boards and agencies including the Amherst Industrial Development Agency, who during its April 20 meeting, agreed to amend a previously approved incentive package to allow for the larger development price tag.
Besides the hotel, the project includes 33 market-rate apartments. The hotel will include 25 suites among its 120 rooms.
In January, when the AIDA first approved the incentive package, the project was pegged with a $22.74 million development price tag. At the time, Ellicott Development was negotiating with the Aloft hotel group to anchor the property.
Paladino said he felt the Wyndham brand was a better fit, but Wyndham’s development blueprint called for more extensive interior work.
Concept Construction Corp. was retained to handle the construction.
“The Wyndham just works better,” Paladino said.
Ellicott Development has a strong working relationship with the Wyndham Hotel Group . It developed a Wingate Inn in Ellicottville nearly a decade ago and built a Days Inn on Genesee Street across from Buffalo Niagara International Airport .
The Wyndham Hotel Group once considered anchoring the Statler Towers when it was owned by British investor Bashar Issa, but those talks died when Issa began his legal and financial troubles.
The Wyndham Hotel Group owns such brands as Planet Hollywood, Microtel Inn & Suites, Days Inn and Ramada Inn.
