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Hotel Utica is a historic hotel building in Utica, New York. It was designed by Esenwein & Johnson, an architectural firm from Buffalo, and is located on the northwest corner of Lafayette Street and Seneca Street for United Hotels Company of America. The hotel was restored with public funding and reopened in 2001.
The Hotel Utica (circa 1912) was originally built as a 10-story building of fireproof construction with 200 rooms, four dining rooms, a ballroom, an assembly hall, a restaurant for ladies and a grill and cafe for gentlemen. The top four floors were added in 1926, which increased the total number of rooms to 250. Famous guests included: Judy Garland, Mickey Mantle, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Hopalong Cassidy, Mae West, Bobby Darin, and then current U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. As business declined, the hotel ceased operating in 1972. It then became two adult care residences, the Hunter House and then Loretto Adult Residence. After a period of vacancy, it was purchased by local investors Joseph R. Carucci and Charles N. Gaetano. They undertook a $13 million rehabilitation from 1999-2001 that was patterned on the restoration of The Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. In 2001, The Hotel Utica became a member of The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America.
Loan payments have been a problem for the hotel and the City of Utica, which has been spending around $500,000 a year to cover unmet obligations. The nearby Radisson Hotel has had a special assessment deal on its taxes. The Hotel Utica was listed for sale at $10.7 million in 2009. After years of Carucci and Gaetano failing to pay property and school taxes, and falling behind on the remaining $6.3 million on what originally was a $5 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development loan. In 2006 the Hotel Utica became a member of the reservation company Choice Hotels International.though ownership remains private.