JAMESTOWN – Two businesses proclaimed their desire to provide services locally as Downtown Jamestown continues to grow.
Hamister Group, LLC. and Artone LLC. announced jointly Wednesday morning that the latter will dispense high-quality furniture for DoubleTree by Hilton Jamestown, which is scheduled to open in Fall 2018.
Mark Hamister, Chairman/CEO of Hamister Group, said his company’s dedication stretches beyond a physical setting or object. His company is focused on the community impact the hotel will have.
“We are a company that’s not just committed to doing real estate projects but, instead, a company that is committed to service,” Hamister said. “This isn’t just about the building, which is beautiful. This about making sure that we provide a building that will, through people and employees that will be working there from Jamestown, providing an exceptional service.”
“I can’t be more proud of the fact that all of the furniture, which is relatively rare in this country today for furniture to be built in this country, but for us to be able to say, because of the commitment of this company that we’re sitting with here today, to manufacture the product here in the United States and here in Jamestown, NY, that we are all going to be able to say that all of the furniture in that building is American made and Jamestown made for Jamestown’s largest full-service hotel.”
Hamister doubled down on a projected Fall 2018, adding a chuckle as he said an “extremely important” client scheduled a Christmas party in the hotel in December.
“We’re about 60 days, plus or minus, from opening this grand hotel,” Hamister said. “We absolutely have to be open by early December because we have an extremely important customer that has a Christmas party.”
“It is extremely rewarding that this community has opened their arms as much as they have in all of the presales that we have already booked for the hotel. It truly has been a pleasure to have gone through the development process, and we are looking forward to many, many years of a mutually beneficial relationship here in Jamestown, NY.”
The Hamister’s have ties to the community, as several family members have lived and worked in Jamestown and the surrounding area.
Dan Hamister reiterated that the City of Jamestown welcomed Hamister Group with “open arms,” which “made things simple to get this job done.”
Jamestown’s Director of Development, Vince DeJoy, discussed the long development process with the Hamister Group. He expressed his gratitude for the Hamister’s keeping their word in working diligently to secure Artone’s involvement in the manufacturing.
“This has obviously been a four-year conversation that we’ve actually had with Mark and Dan Hamister since the time they purchased the property in the auction after it was in foreclosure,” DeJoy said. “From the first time the Mayor and I met with Dan and Mark after they completed their acquisition, we mentioned Artone as a quality manufacturer and they, true to their word, said, ‘We will do everything we can to make sure there’s a local participation and the construction and manufacturer of furniture and other types of products.'”
“They’ve kept their word and have worked with Sam and Mike very closely, and we’re pleased we are here today. I know the Mayor has used every opportunity he’s had when we’ve interfaced with Dan on any personal visits, asks him every time if we can make sure that Artone has a competitive shot at getting this furniture bid.”
DeJoy recognized that a lot of work and cooperation was needed to secure the agreement between Hamister Group and Artone.
“I know they had to work. They had to sharpen their pencils and do a lot of things to make this happen. Just pleased that we’ve had a great quality construction staff with Josh (Klotzbach, Vice President of Construction for the American Institute of Architects) at Hamister Group and others to make it happen.”
Mayor Sam Teresi said he’s glad to be a part of a community that is filled with companies such as Artone and, now, the DoubleTree By Hilton Jamestown.
“As the Mayor of this city, I’m very proud of being in a community that offers a terrific workforce like Artone and a lot of other companies,” Teresi said. “I’m proud to be the Mayor of a community that has a well endowed manufacturing base, work force, supply of contractors, but I’m also very happy that we’re working with a developer that is putting in place what could be the single largest for-profit private sector development project in Downtown Jamestown ever.”
“We’ve had a lot of large projects, we’ve been public, public/private non-for-profit, but straight private sector, for-profit, this is going to be one of the biggest, if not the largest, adjustments in Downtown Jamestown, if not ever, at least in recent history. We’re thankful for having a quality developer here building a flagship, full-service hotel and anchor project for Downtown Jamestown.”
WNYNewsNow will have a separate article detailing the project through the eyes of Artone in the coming days.
