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Restoration in works for 1920s hotel

The Hotel North Woods on Main Street, Lake Placid, is seen Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

LAKE PLACID — Planning for a restoration of the historic Hotel North Woods continues.

The new owners of the Main Street hotel, Lake Placid Hotel Partners LLC, submitted an application to the North Elba-Lake Placid Joint Review Board seeking approval for a number of exterior upgrades to the building. The board considered the plans during its bimonthly meeting on Wednesday.

The Smith family, of Northwoods Inn LLC, sold the Hotel North Woods to Lake Placid Hotel Partners LLC in 2018.

The Hotel North Woods was originally known as the Hotel Marcy, which opened its doors for the first time on July 6, 1927. Despite the hotel changing hands a few times, seeing a fatal fire that destroyed its left wing in 1966 and being renamed a few times, it has been a Main Street mainstay ever since.

Jason Goins, vice president of construction at Wright Investments and a representative of the new owners, told the review board on Wednesday that the owners intend to restore the hotel to something like its original red-brick look.

“We are trying to bring back the original look of the Hotel Marcy,” he said.

Goins added that the owners are “excited to be able to bring back some authenticity to the structure on Main Street.”

It will be renamed the Great Adirondack Hotel, according to Goins. According to the project application, the hotel will operate under the Marriott Tribute brand. Goins said they’ve chosen the Marriott Tribute brand because the company will allow them the flexibility of modifying the building to fit in with its surroundings.

The planned new exterior, shown in planning documents, appears to be white with black awnings and a black portico in the lower third of the building. The upper part of the building appears to be brick with white accents.

The owners are asking for approval to replace the existing facade with brick, build a new elevator tower, update both the front Main Street and rear parking porticos, install new awnings, upgrade the exterior doors and to use the rooftop as a seasonal event space with a bar area. In addition to those upgrades, the owners are also planning to install a new sprinkler system and expand its hillside rooms to include balconies. They also might build a new parking structure with space for 100 vehicles, according to the project application.

Goins told the review board that they’re still in the planning phase, as far as the exterior renovations are concerned, but they’ve been making progress — the first model room in the hotel is slated to be complete next week.

“Our endeavor is to begin the exterior sometime in late October to get as much done as possible before the weather turns sour,” he said.

The review board took no action on the request Wednesday, but did request more information from the owners. Board Chairman Bill Hurley said before they schedule a public hearing on the project, he believes the public would want more details about the rooftop event space, such as proposed operating hours.

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