Hotel buy is huge for Glens Falls

By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor

Ed Moore’s purchase of the Queensbury Hotel — finalized Monday, for an undisclosed price — is a colossal step forward for the progress of downtown Glens Falls.

Mr. Moore is a serious player. He created the French Mountain Commons outlet stores at Northway Exit 20 in Queensbury and now also owns the Log Jam Outlet Center across the road.

The Staten Island native was also the driving force in creating the coalition that has taken over operation of the Glens Falls Civic Center — his $250,000 contribution led by example.

Then he spent a million dollars to buy the vintage J.E. Sawyer building across the street from the Civic Center.

His purchase of the Queensbury Hotel means it now has local ownership, with the means and willingness to spend money to elevate it. That’s much needed.

As important, the 70-year-old Mr. Moore has put into place a young, energetic, highly ambitious management team led by his son Zack, 34, and Tyler Herrick, 35, who live across the street from each other in the Broadacres section of Queensbury (where the Moore clan lives in close proximity to each other). Mr. Herrick and Zack Moore have become such close friends that Zack quips “our fifth anniversary” is coming up soon.

The men say they started talking at an Adirondack Balloon Festival, when each had one of his young children up on his respective shoulders. Apparently they haven’t stopped talking since then.

The duo formed Spruce Hospitality LLC — Spruce is the street they live on. It will manage the Queensbury Hotel as well as the Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott that Ed Moore plans to build east of Northway Exit 18 off Big Boom Road in Queensbury.

Mr. Herrick will be the Queensbury Hotel’s G.M. He arrives from Bolton’s Sagamore Resort, where he was Assistant General Manager, second in command only to Glens Falls native Tom Guay. “Tom and I were side by side for almost 10 years.”

A native of the Boston area, Mr. Herrick and his wife Sarah met at St. Lawrence University. Sarah is the daughter of Queensbury veterinarian Bob O’Connor; the family operates Glens Falls Animal Hospital. Mr. Herrick said Sarah was always selling him on Glens Falls, and when she landed a tenure track teaching position at Corinth, their move here was clinched.

Mr. Herrick and Zack Moore aim to develop a company capable of running hotels across the country, but if it ever does go national, Mr. Herrick says, “The home office will be in Glens Falls.” He envisions it on the fifth floor of Ed Moore’s Sawyer’s building, overlooking the Hudson River.

The Herricks have three children, ages 6, 5 and 1. Zack and his wife Kristy have three children, ages 7, 5 and 18 months.

Ed Moore says they’ve “locked up” Mr. Herrick for an unspecified length of time. The trio has hit the ground running. “We’ve already met with restaurateurs and Phinney Design” Group, which has done renovation work at The Sagamore and Mohonk Mountain House and The Gideon Putnam.

“We must be comparable to a Gideon Putnam,” says Mr. Herrick. The men say they’ll spend “upwards of a million and a half dollars in the first year-and-a-half…making upgrades that people will notice” — from improved bathrooms and lobby area to new mattresses, flat-screen TVs and room clocks offering outlets and Internet connections. “We’ll hit some low-hanging fruit” first, said Zack.

There are bigger building and food plans the men are vague about, although Mr. Herrick cites the need for meeting space to “accommodate 300 to 400 people.”

Ed Moore talks of “upgrading the culture.” Mr. Herrick stresses the commitment to guest services.

The hotel had “less than 45% occupancy in the past year,” said Ed Moore, and that he’s been told that “good stability with a profit to the owners should be somewhere about 60%” occupancy.”

Mr. Herrick knows the in’s and out’s of the lodging industry’s numbers and needs.

Eric Rottingen is the new sales manager, “his third stint at the Queensbury. He looks at it as a return to home,” Mr. Herrick said. The whole group has that feel.

In local hands, it’s the hotel’s new day.

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