If the Culinary Institute of America has its way, you can have your cake and eat it in bed, too.
Hyde Park”™s CIA, which draws tourists from all over the region and the country, is hoping to add a new Park Hyatt hotel to its list of offerings on the college campus.
The CIA currently has no overnight accommodations for families or visitors on site, so plans to lease approximately five acres on the northwest corner of the school”™s property to the Hyatt Hotel chain is in the works.
To get approval for its plan, the CIA needs zoning changes from the town of Hyde Park. In addition, said Poughkeepsie-based attorney Jon Adams, representing the college, “We must be mindful the view shed of the Hudson be preserved. FDR liked to sit on his porch looking south. Scenic Hudson has already purchased property on the west side of the river to keep the view FDR looked out on. The new hotel would be built to blend in with the college and not disturb the viewshed on the eastern side of the river. The land slopes lower there, so it will not be visible from Springside. There will be limited, if any, views of the water from the new hotel.”
What it will offer is a conference center for business functions, off-site meetings and private events, with 137 guest rooms, situated close to the Route 9 corridor.
Stephan Hengst, speaking on behalf of the college, said it had no prepared statement on the strategy yet. “This subject came up at the Hyde Park town meeting the other night and piqued everyone”™s interest, but we are not sure we are going to get the approvals from the town or whether the project will go through. That”™s why there are not many details and no formal rendering. Right now, we are just in the talking stages. Right now, there is really nothing we can discuss.”
Town of Hyde Park Supervisor Tom Martino gave a thumbs up to the proposed hotel, saying it would be a boost to the town”™s rateables and create jobs. “We need to address some zoning issues that currently exist, but it would be a great addition to the town and the school.”
Mary Kay Vrba, executive director of Dutchess County Tourism, could not agree more: “There really are no hotels of Hyatt caliber in that part of Dutchess,” she said. “In addition to being on the grounds of the CIA , FDR”™s home and many other historic sites are clustered right in that area. It would be a tremendous boost to tourism and to the northern Dutchess area. I”™m hoping the CIA and Hyatt can make this happen and the hotel becomes a reality.”
Adams said, if approved, Hyatt could begin building the multimillion-dollar project by the end of the year.
