The Trenton Times published the following article on November 11, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Shopkeepers: Investment in Trenton’s Lafayette Yard Hotel wasn’t that bad

By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on November 11, 2013 at 7:35 AM, updated November 11, 2013 at 7:38 AM

TRENTON — Trenton’s $60 million downtown hotel opened in 2002 to promises that it would be the spark to ignite development in Trenton’s historic downtown that the city and its shopkeepers had been waiting for.

More than a decade later, the developers have not come in droves, and boarded-up properties spot the streetscape.

In two weeks, the bankrupt inn will be sold to the highest bidder and the city’s taxpayers will be left holding the bag for the millions of dollars in outstanding debt on the building.

But local business owners maintain that having the hotel there on the corner of Lafayette and South Warren streets is better than if the land had remained just another surface parking lot.