Governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo also played an instrumental role in bringing the hotel to life, awarding a $5 million (£3.8 million) redevelopment grant to Hotel Saranac. Roedel engaged Boston-based Korn Design to guide the overall vision and create a brand strategy for the re-launch of the iconic hotel. Offering a comprehensive suite of hospitality services, Roedel Companies has taken a fully integrated approach with the restoration, including managing its development, construction, interior design and operations. Now part of the select Curio Collection by Hilton, a collection of unique hotels appealing to travelers seeking local discovery, the Hotel Saranac was bought in 2013 by New Hampshire-based Roedel Companies, a standard-setting owner-operator with deep family ties to Saranac Lake. A painstaking, thoughtful restoration has brought a modern spin to everything that made the Hotel Saranac a 20th-century icon. Visitors from up and down the East Coast flocked to the hotel, drawn by its grand design, breathtaking scenery, and historic surroundings on downtown’s Main Street. Originally designed by Adirondacks architects Scopes and Feustmann, Hotel Saranac opened in 1927 as a beacon of elegance in serene Saranac Lake. The Hotel Saranac’s rustic-chic restaurant, is the Campfire Adirondack Grill + Bar. Indigenous ingredients like pine, birch, and maple will infuse treatments at Ampersand Salon and Spa, a state-of-the-art sanctuary named for the majestic mountain nearby. With its glorious ballroom, gorgeous public spaces, and landmark exterior burnished to a new glow, the Hotel Saranac will also boast amenities fresh as the Upstate air. There is the little girl who supposedly walks the halls of the fourth floor, singing that can be heard on the sixth floor and, of course, signs that Howard Littell is still roaming the basement of the building.Hotel Saranac will reopen in late 2017 after a multi-million dollar restoration that infuses modern indulgences with untamed North Country spirit. Every floor seems to have a story, from the sightings near the ballroom on the second floor of Frances Peroni (who taught there when the hotel was owned by Paul Smith College), to the scratching of Emily Balsam’s cat on the third floor. Among her stories included brushes with the spirit of the cat believed to belong to Emily Balsam, a long-term resident who died in her room in 1983. Susan Murphy-Goff, part of the Adirondack Park Paranormal Society team that conducted a two-day paranormal investigation in the Hotel Saranac, worked at the hotel for five years and experienced frequent paranormal activity. The Hotel Saranac was among the many grand hotels populating Saranac Lake during the time when people came from around the country to be treated for tuberculosis. Saranac Lake has been long known for its treatment of tuberculosis and has had its share of ghost stories associated with people who were treated there. Littell moved on with the new high school, but apparently his spirit did not people have claimed to have seen him wandering the halls of the hotel, perhaps looking to keep a stray student in line. The high school moved in 1926 and the Hotel Saranac was built on that land the following year. Littell was known for roaming the high school’s hallways and keeping the students in line. Saranac Lake’s high school once stood on the grounds where the Hotel Saranac currently is located and the dearly departed Littell was the superintendent of schools for close to 35 years. People will say the man is Howard Littell. But deep in the bowels of the Hotel Saranac, there may be a sighting of a distinguished man dressed in a black suit with tails and top hat. Of course, most will be children dressed in costume for the occasion. Goblins, ghosts, and other spirits of the night all promise to be wandering the streets of Saranac Lake on Halloween night.
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