Stay up to date on the latest venue openings and property renovations, including these found in the East.
New Jersey
Hyatt Regency Morristown debuted its multimillion-dollar renovation earlier this year, designed by global architecture and design firm Gensler (which has an office in Morristown). The downtown property completely transformed its guest rooms, lobby, food and beverage offerings and indoor meeting spaces. The property is located in the center of Headquarters Plaza, a mixed-use development comprising the hotel, three office towers, a gym, restaurants and covered parking.
The lobby has been redesigned to incorporate Morristown’s unique history. Two Mediterranean-inspired trees are the focal point upon arrival inside the main entrance. Public spaces have been outfitted with modern furnishings that feature tones of brass and shades of blue, symbolic of officer uniforms from the American Revolution.
The property’s 31,000 square feet of conference space have also been updated. Planners can also now book a new outdoor venue at the adjacent Pioneer Park courtyard beginning in April 2022. The hotel’s former restaurant was also converted into a new meeting venue.
Pennsylvania
After opening in October 2020 during the throes of the pandemic, Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia has opened its first food and beverage concept, Patchwork, a restaurant and bar focused on New American cuisine inspired by Mid-Atlantic ingredients.
Patchwork is open for breakfast, dinner and brunch, with plans to eventually expand to lunch, and it also offers a 24-hour grab-and-go market. The menu was curated by executive chef Jonathan Dearden. Highlights include Cape May oysters, the signature Patchwork burger and sirloin steak frites with truffles fries and whiskey au poivre. The bar boasts rotating local beers on draft, global wines and signature cocktails showcasing local and regional distilleries like New Liberty Distillery and Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey.
The 13-story property offers 332 guest rooms, including 22 suites, and more than 5,300 total square feet of event and meeting space. Its seven meeting rooms are each named after groundbreaking Philadelphians, including the largest, the Alexander Ballroom, named after Sadie Mossell Alexander, the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and the first Black woman to practice law in Pennsylvania.
[Related: Lancaster County, PA Is Upping Its Meetings and Events Offering]
Virginia
Archer Hotel unveiled its second D.C. metro-area boutique hotel this year, Archer Hotel Falls Church, which is undergoing a significant design overhaul—expected to finish spring 2022—of the former Hyatt House Falls Church/Merrifield. The hotel, with its new name, will remain open during the renovation process. The 148-room property joins the newly opened Archer Hotel Tysons, also in the DMV area, which welcomed guests in September 2021.
The makeover of the property will include chic new public spaces, luxe guest rooms (with the rare-find option of double king accommodations) and suites and Archer’s signature hotel bar concept, AKB. Planners can take advantage of 3,225 square feet of indoor meeting and event space, with capabilities to host groups of up to 100 in flexible, first-floor, light-filled venues.
Archer Hotel Falls Church is located in Fairfax County’s Mosaic District and is just 10 miles from Washington, D.C.
A New Conference Center in the Finger Lakes
In the emerging meetings destination of Aurora, located in the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, the Inns of Aurora recently welcomed a new meetings and events center. The Taylor House Conference Center, the resort’s capstone restoration following a 20-year dedication to the preservation of the village’s historic buildings, offers two floors of meeting and event space with original architecture and newly designed interiors.
The top floor of the Greek Revival-inspired home, originally built in 1838, features 1,500 square feet of meeting space with seven 65-inch TV screens, magnetic walls and airwalls to create up to three separate spaces. The 2,000-square-foot first floor features three grand parlors with original fireplaces, a dining room with barrel-vaulted ceilings and original 1871 woodwork, and an outdoor patio with a firepit that accommodates up to 50 guests.
The Inns of Aurora is a luxury lakeside boutique resort that offers 54 total guest rooms complete with resident innkeepers, private balconies and views of Cayuga Lake. The resort also offers a spa, numerous shops, restaurants and private activities for groups like archery lessons and essential oil blending classes.
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