The opening of the Cambria Hotel & Suites White Plains in November marked the brand’s expansion into the New York market. Located just 25 miles north of Manhattan, the 130-room all-suite hotel is part of a mixed-use development that includes 35,000 square feet of retail space. Designed to draw in both business and leisure travelers, the new-build project cost a reported $37 million and was a joint venture between Meyer Jabara Hotels and Choice Hotels.
The eight-story hotel sits on the former site of a supermarket that was demolished in 2011. Meyer Jabara had purchased the property in the early 2000s and opted to develop the site as the White Plains economy rebounded from the national economic downtrend. “There was a lot of heartbreak in the recession,” said William Meyer, chairman of Meyer Jabara Hotels. “We firmly believe it’s important for the company to grow,” says Meyer, who pointed to the site’s proximity to a city parking garage as making sense for the mixed-use venue. Ground floor tenants include TGI Fridays, Chipotle, Corner Bakery, Wild Fusion Asian Grill, and Planet Fitness.
The White Plains market “has a great blend of weekday business customers and weekend leisure guests” because corporations with headquarters are located nearby, says Mike Murphy, SVP of upscale brands at Choice. Nine West Holdings Inc. and ITT Corp. are among the companies headquartered in White Plains, an affluent suburban city in Westchester County. To support this business market, the hotel offers 2,000 square feet of meeting space that can accommodate up to 60 guests in a banquet setting or 120 guests for conferences.
After recent forays into Miami and Washington, D.C., the New York market was a logical next step for Cambria’s expansion, Murphy explains. “Demand for the upscale tier is higher than any other segment, and it’s outpacing supply,” says Murphy, who adds the company is concentrating on accelerating its growth into the upscale sector, including two properties currently under development in Manhattan—one in Chelsea, the other in Times Square. Twenty-two Cambria properties are already open, and additions are planned in urban markets throughout the country, including Los Angeles and Seattle.
For Meyer Jabara Hotels, the hospitality company that owns and operates 20-plus hotels in 10 states, the upscale venue in downtown White Plains is the latest chapter for second-generation hoteliers William Meyer and Richard Jabara. Back in the 1950s, Meyer’s father, Arthur, and Jabara’s father, Theodore, partnered to run a small portfolio of hotels that they eventually spun off into a publicly traded hotel company called Servico. Their friendship remained, however. “Fifty-six years later, we’re two sons of two fathers who grew up in Brooklyn together. A friendship between a Lebanese and a Jew, it was very unusual back in those days,” says Meyer, chairman of Meyer Jabara, of his initial connection to Jabara, the company’s president and CEO.
In his 37 years at the company, Meyer never shared an office with his partner, Jabara. “We talk every day on the phone and meet each other at our hotels” throughout the year, says Meyer. “The way our business works, it’s easier with email and cell phones,” he adds. Jabara, a graduate of the University of Denver Hotel School, works from their company’s headquarters in Danbury, Conn., and teaches management and leadership skills to the company’s department heads.
Meyer Jabara Hotels has opened or started construction on five new hotels during the last 18 months. On average, the company, which currently owns and operates 20-plus hotels, each year sells roughly one property “when we think it has maximized its value” and adds another two to three. “From Boston all the way to Miami, there are very few markets in the East that we don’t have a presence in,” Meyer boasts.
The hotel business requires tenacity, “not only because hotels operate 24-7 but because every decade since the 1970s there has been a recession,” Meyer says. “Anyone thinking of getting into the business should be prepared to work long hours.”
