Ward Plans Downtown Hotel

Developer James Ward is planning to build a boutique hotel in downtown Westfield.

The developer, who owns the James Ward Mansion on East Broad Street and the Savannah condos on Prospect Street, said he is looking to recreate downtown by bringing more hotel and banquet space to the area. His plans include a 100-room hotel and a banquet facility to handle 300-plus guests. He declined to present a timeline for the project, but said it is one of his top priorities.

Ward said the project came to mind as he saw only one hotel, the Best Western Westfield Inn, and little in terms of banquet space in the downtown. He said he has talked to various business people during the course of his market research who indicated a desire to have more hotel rooms for regional corporations in the area.

“On the weekends I can keep the hotel filled with weddings,” Ward said. “During the week I can keep it filled with business people.”

Ward said corporations in the region, along with the train station proximity to Newark, Jersey City and Manhattan can keep the business guests coming in. The only larger hotels in western Union County are the Crowne Plaza in Clark, the Holiday Inn in Springfield, the Kenilworth Inn and the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit. The Grand Summit is the only one of the four in a downtown, within walking distance to a train station. The Hilton at Short Hills is also nearby but not in a downtown area.

Ward’s proposed hotel has the potential to transform the streetscape of the downtown. His present buildings are built in a New Orleans style, which is similar to Ward’s projects in Cranford, but he is looking to try something different. He is looking to replicate the Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. There is no downtown building built in this style.

“I think it is a beautiful hotel that is stylish and sleeker and more modern,” Ward said. “It will fit into what Westfield has become.”

Ward likes to note that Westfield is transforming into a suburban Hoboken, with cafes and bistros bringing more people into the pedestrian friendly downtown and more residents looking to live in the downtown area.

Ward declined to say where he is planning to build the hotel, noting that it will be on a property that he already owns. A search of property records in the tax assessors office shows the only downtown properties registered to Ward or his property management company, Ward O’Donnell, are the James Ward Mansion and the Savannah. A clerk in the assessor’s office said the town does not have information on the true owners of a property if a shell corporation is used to hide the property owner’s identity.

Sherry Cronin, the director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation, said she couldn’t think of any properties in downtown proper which could support the size project Ward is proposing without a teardown. She did say there are several properties on the edge of the downtown, which could support the proposed hotel. Ward also declined to say if the hotel would be on the north side or south side, saying that would give away the location.

Ward said Westfield could sustain a second downtown banquet facility, with the proposed hotel competing with his current catering business at the James Ward Mansion. He noted that he has to turn many weddings away because he cannot host 200-plus guests at the mansion. He said the Westfield brand has been drawing more people to want to have a wedding reception in town.

“People love the idea of getting married in Westfield,” he said. “People can get married in a banquet place in Roselle Park but they don’t like the address. They like the name of Westfield.”

With the plans to build in the style of the Hotel Gansevoort, and being a boutique hotel, the room rates will likely be pricey. Ward said he believes Westfield can sustain a pricey boutique hotel downtown, particularly if it is aimed at business and wedding clients.

The news that Ward is planning a downtown hotel caught some town officials by surprise. Cronin said that while she had heard some rumors that Ward was looking to build a hotel she had not heard any confirmation. She declined to comment specifically on the project without knowing more details, but said that the DWC does support economic development downtown.

Councilman Frank Arena, who handles downtown issues for the Council, said he had not heard of the proposed hotel, but praised Ward for working closely with the town government in the construction of the Savannah. Arena said Ward worked with the town regarding parking issues at the 35-unit luxury condominium, by including 70 parking spaces below ground. Arena hopes that Ward addresses the parking situation with a proposed hotel as well as he did with the Savannah.

“I will wait to hear,” Arena said the project details. “James did the right thing with parking at the Savannah.”

Ward said that for all of the economic development and business considerations that drive a major project like this, one that will move him into a new business line, there was a more personal reason he is pursuing this project.

“I want to build a hotel and own a hotel,” he said. “That is the driving force. I think it will be fun to own and operate a hotel in downtown Westfield.”