Ariel on Broadway Hotel opens

LORAIN — The Ariel on Broadway Hotel is officially open. Local, state and federal leaders along with developer Radhika Reddy and her business partners held a ribbon-cutting Monday morning in the fourth floor ballroom. The hotel will be managed by Cobblestone, the fasted growing hotel chain in the Midwest, Reddy said, and often goes to places where there are no other hotels. Formerly the Spitzer Hotel before it sat vacant for more than a decade, the Broadway Building was an eyesore on the city's main thoroughfare until attorney Tony Giardini worked with Alan Spitzer for the businessman to donate the property to the Lorain Port Authority. From there, Ariel Ventures agreed to a 40-year lease and the city supported tax measures to help finance the project. She said Michigan-based Chemical Bank loaned the group the money for the multi-million dollar project, while local architect Gary Fisher brought new life to the then-crumbling hotel. Now, what were hallways with fallen-in drop ceilings and a rooftop full of cattails is a 55-room hotel and event center, with all of its first floor storefronts leased. Reddy noted the Lorain Historical Society donated 80 historic pictures hung throughout the building — telling guests the history of the city and making it a "Lorain-centric hotel." Lorain Port Authority Executive Director Tom Brown said it was kind of surreal to see the building opened. He remembered bringing Reddy to the building on a cold, gray winter day and said the developer could see through the overgrowth to the buildings's potential. Mayor Jack Bradley said Lorain became part of Reddy's dream. Reddy immigrated from India as a young woman, and helped found Ariel Ventures in 2001. He, like many others that stood beside Reddy ahead of Monday's ribbon-cutting, remembered the Spitzer Hotel in its heyday. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, said his parents held their 50th wedding anniversary there in 1996, along with a host of political and social events. Working with Reddy for roughly 25 years, the pair laughed when he explained the name of Ariel Ventures — the initials of its partners, Reddy, Lynn Selzer, Irene Zawadiwsky and the 'e' is for their daughters. "Thank you for helping to bring back Lorain and making such a difference," he said. The effort started under former Mayor Chase Ritenauer, who first announced the project via a drone-delivered memo at his 2018 State of the City address. Now living outside Chicago, Ritenauer noted after the ribbon cutting the effort was years in the making. He said the project can be traced to former Safety/Service Director Robert Fowler and former Port Authority director Rick Novak's efforts to bring Rockin' on the River and RoverFest to the city in 2014 and 2015. 2016 brought budget woes and layoffs, but 2017 allowed the city to building its confidence. When the announcement came in 2018, Ritenauer said many people really wondered if the hotel was going to happen. "(The) ribbon cutting, is obviously a very exciting day for the city, but in looking back you look at these exciting moments and it doesn't just happen instantly," he said. "It was the result of a lot of hard work, six-plus years, from a lot of different people. To book a room at the hotel, visit staycobblestone.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.