Hotel in Newport has grand opening

Jersey City went one step further toward being a tourist destination when the Westin Jersey City Newport Hotel has its grand opening on Monday.
The 23-story, 429-room hotel, located on Washington Boulevard, opened after over two years of construction to hundreds of special guests including Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, and Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
Menendez stayed at the hotel this past weekend with his entire legislative staff for a retreat, and remarked during the grand opening about the hotel being another “crown jewel” in the development of the Newport area. He said it helped to bring jobs and produce revenues in difficult economic times.
“I look at today’s opening as a spring of hope in a dark winter,” Menendez said.
There are 230 employees working at the hotel, a majority of who are from Hudson County.
The newly constructed hotel was developed by the LeFrak Organization, owned by a joint venture of LeFrak Organization and Melvin Simon & Associates, and will be operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
The hotel also has 20,500 square feet of meeting space, including 30 meeting rooms, and a grand ballroom with more than 10,000 square feet of space and 20-foot ceilings and can easily accommodate 1,450 guests for a reception or 790 for a seated dinner. – Ricardo Kaulessar