New Owners for the Radisson at Lackawanna Station

Today's big Scranton-area news item is the purchase of the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel by a California-area real estate firm. This is certainly some good news for downtown Scranton, since there was some question earlier this year regarding the hotel's future. As reported by the Times-Tribune, the new owners, Akshar Lackawanna Station Hospitality LP, a unit of El Centro, Calif.-based Calvin Investments LLC, bought the facility for $7 million, and plans to spend $1.5-1.7 million to update the hotel. Most of these will be basic upgrades of amenities, which I've heard is a long-overdue move, along with plasma flatscreen TVs in the rooms, which will be a nice touch. Of course, this news comes hot on the heels of the recent purchase of the Hilton Scranton from bankruptcy by Spectrum Origination LLC.

So, the two upscale hotels in downtown Scranton are now under new ownership. The big question is now whether downtown Scranton can support two luxury hotels in the near future. The impending completion of the Casey parking garage will certainly help, given that the lack of parking was the biggest complaint of the Hilton's previous management.

Some quickie research on hotels.com shows that the Hilton and Radisson are both in the $100-150 per room range, which is pretty goddamned pricey for a hotel in a small city. Especially given that the other two 3-star-rated hotels in the list have rooms starting at $57 and $89. Note that the Hilton Scranton is not rated, but I'm sure it would rate comparably. Also, I note that hotels.com listing is not aware of the fact that the Radisson has High-Speed Internet, which is rates as a pretty significant screaming red light to me.

So, we'll see if the various business travellers, and expatriates coming home to visit family can support the two biggie hotels. Or perhaps, some genius-level marketing will cause the "convention destination" plan to work out. Time will tell.