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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. June 25, 2020:

After 13 years overlooking Renaissance Square, The Ritz-Carlton White Plains,will close September 10, to upgrade the Ritz to a “contemporary, luxurious” Marriott International Autograph Collection Hotel in early 2021.

Glacier Capital Partners of Montana, the owners, (an equity fund company) published plans to renovate the hotel into a Marriott International Autograph Collection Hotel early in 2021 this week.

For about 10 months, White Plains will be without the major upscale hotel attraction that has delivered, style and chic to the central downtown. 

When White Plains put on the Ritz in 2007, it was the crown jewel of the Louis Cappelli-envisioned Renaissance Square complex that coronated the White Plains Renaissance period of 2003-2007. Mr. Cappelli envisioned and bult the City Center complex and then the twin glass towers of the  Ritz-Carlton palace, that distinguish the Westchester County skyline from the Hudson to the Sound. (You can see the towers in the signature skyline of White Plains New York USA at the top of this page.)

The 5 years of construction by Cappelli Enterprises (from start to finish of both complexes in sequential order, made White Plains the talk of the County. The two projects have sustained White Plains for 13 years through the slow recovery from the Wall Street/ derivatives crash of 2008, and still do that during the current slowdown of building projects lagging for lack of financing across the city. Only Mr. Cappelli’s construction of 55 Bank Street is nearing completion of the half dozen projects approved by the city since 2007.

Marriott describes the Autograph Hotel experience as  “inspired by a clear vision, soul and story.” It currently has 192 hotels in operation worldwide.

The Notice of Closing filed by Glacier with the New York Department of Labor, stated 183 employees would be laid off as a result of the closure for reimagining the vision of a contemporary luxury destination.