By CHRIS KNIGHT – Senior Staff Writer ( ) , Adirondack Daily Enterprise
SARANAC LAKE — Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured the still-under-renovation Hotel Saranac for the second time during a stop in the village this afternoon.
In pictures provided by the governor’s office, Cuomo is seen inside the hotel with representatives of Roedel Companies, which is rebuilding and restoring the iconic Main Street building. Fred Roedel III of ROK Builders, the general contractor on the project, Kevin Knobloch of subcontractor JNK Home Enterprises, and Dan Ott, a consultant to ROK Builders, led the governor on the tour.
The caption with the photos notes that the Hotel Saranac restoration is a project “moved forward by the North Country (Regional Economic Development Council).” Three years ago, state officials awarded the project $5 million, but Roedel Companes can’t get the money until the hotel is operating and has reached certain employment thresholds.
“Restoring the iconic Hotel Saranac is essential to future economic growth and tourism in the North Country,” Cuomo said in a statement his staff issued by email. “The state has been an instrumental partner in this project since day one, and today’s tour of construction progress gave me renewed confidence that this architectural gem will continue to serve as a top destination for decades to come.”
Cuomo took an interest in the hotel’s renovation since it was first proposed by Roedel Companies in the summer of 2013. In mid-August of that year, Cuomo took part in a conference call about Roedel Companies’ proposal with village Mayor Clyde Rabideau and then-Empire State Development President and CEO Ken Adams. Adams then traveled to Saranac Lake the next day to meet with Rabideau and Roedel.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make a new Hotel Saranac a reality,” Cuomo said of the project during a November 2013 press conference in Lake Placid.
Cuomo previously toured the hotel with Roedel and Rabideau in July 2014.
Roedel Companies has received a massive loan to finish its $35 million restoration of the hotel, the opening date of which has been pushed back repeatedly due to construction and financing delays. The loan documents say the project has to be complete and the hotel reopened and operating by May 1, 2017.
Roedel said in November that he believes May 1 is a “reliable” completion date.
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