100M Paterson hotel to break ground this fall

A project that would place a $100 million hotel and conference center in Paterson will break ground this fall after getting approval from city officials early this week.Developed by Medical Missions for Children, a city-based nonprofit, the proposal calls for a 14-story building with 145 rooms and a conference center, the organization’s chairman said. The project would sit on property owned by St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, also including a restaurant and expansion to an existing parking garage.

Chairman Frank Brady said the organization plans to break ground in October and have the property be open by 2016. Additionally, the group plans to build a 105,000-square-foot office building across the street that will house part of a satellite campus for the New York Medical College, plus offices for doctors affiliated with St. Joseph’s.

The project is a long time coming and more than welcome for Paterson, a once-proud North Jersey city that has grappled with decline in recent decade.

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“They actually see this as the jumpstart or lynchpin for all the future development of south Paterson,” Brady said. “They think it’s going to actually remake south Paterson.”

The hotel will operate as Doubletree by Hilton, while the 120,000-square-foot conference center will be branded the Hamiltonian, Brady said.

The project jumped forward in December when it was awarded a 10-year, $105.5 million tax credit from the state Economic Development Authority. The EDA estimated at the time the development would create more than 300 new jobs and 665 construction jobs.

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