Access update on the Staybridge Hotel
Remember the Brook’s Landing Project that I wrote about a few months ago? Well, here is some great news!
Access update on the Staybridge Suites Hotel
Rick Rynski, Economic Development Specialist with the City of Rochester, has some good news regarding the Staybridge Suites Hotel, currently under construction as part of the Brook’s Landing revitalization project. In April 2007, there was a presentation at CDR/RCIL regarding the Brook’s Landing Project. The Project includes a new retail and office building in part occupied by the University of Rochester, the Urban Brew Coffee Shop, additional retail space along Genesee Street, and the 80-room Staybridge Suites Hotel. One of the entrances to the hotel would connect directly to a boardwalk along the Genesee River, but unfortunately, the was no wheelchair accessible egress from the hotel to the boardwalk. Hotel patrons who use wheelchair would have to travel 2-3 bolcks around the hotel to get to the waterfront. This was pointed out toRynski and Mark Johns, Senior Landscape Architect with Bergmann Associates during a meeting later that month. At the time, they, as well as the developer, felt that direct access from the hotel to the waterfront by people who use wheelchairs was unattainable.
Recently, Mr. Rynski informed Chris Hilderbrant, Director of Advocacy for the Center for Disability Rights, that the developers had come up with a design plan that allows egress to the boardwalk by persons who use wheelchairs. In the interest of hotel security, this access is only for patrons of the hotel. However, the important thing is that there is now wheelchair access! The developers thought outside of the box and did what they thought was impossible.