Published on : Friday, February 1, 2019
It’s not in the hotel, but a block away at 531 Main St. The center includes 5,000 square feet of meeting space that could serve up to 80 guests in a room named for Winston Churchill, several additional “breakout rooms” named for other famous hotel guests, and a cafe.
The conference center is equipped with technology that corporate clients demand, but includes reminders of the 1920s-era hotel — including paintings of the hotel and similar carpeting.
Bruce Haines, the hotel’s managing owner, said it began planning the corporate center even while searching for expansion partners.
The hotel’s expansion plans include replacing a 100-spot parking deck with a 460-spot garage topped by four stories of guest rooms and meeting space. That would double the hotel’s size and be connected to the hotel. But the project faces several challenges, any one of which could kill it.
Haines said that this can be the bridge to the expansion or, if that doesn’t happen, we still have a beautiful boutique hotel with off-site meeting space. He left open the possibility of keeping the corporate center even if the hotel does expand.
This is the second time in the last year the hotel has increased its footprint on Main Street. Last year, the hotel moved its ice cream parlor across Main Street.
Tags: breakout rooms, Hotel Bethlehem