ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It's nearly 100 years old, but Allentown’s Americus Hotel has undergone a rebirth.
After years of improvements, the historic building on Thursday held a grand reopening to celebrate the completion of renovations.
“Allentown needs a hotel like this,” hotel owner Albert Abdouche said in an interview with LehighValleyNews.com. “In any city you go to — Philadelphia, New York, anywhere you go — you’ll see a historic hotel. This is an image of Allentown.”
- The nearly 100-year-old hotel was in disrepair for decades before owner Albert Abdouche spent more than a decade rehabilitating the property
- The 13-story hotel has been renovated with the intent to evoke how it may have looked when it originally opened in 1927
- The renovations were completed with the unveiling of an 11th-floor ballroom and balcony
Abdouche, who bought the property in 2009, has spent years rehabilitating the 13-story building.
The hotel originally opened in 1927 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. But it closed in 2002 after Allentown determined the building's upper floors were unsafe.
By the time Abdouche bought the property at a sheriff’s sale in 2009, it had fallen further into disrepair.
He applied for the hotel to be included in Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone, which funnels state revenue into downtown projects but waited until 2018 to get a $9 million loan.
Abdouche said that with these changes completed, he hopes to bring back the look and feel the hotel had when it originally opened its doors.
“You feel the character. You can feel the time. It’s like you live in the 1900s,” said Abdouche.
He said that in planning the renovations, he studied historic photos of the building to ensure he got the look and feel right throughout the restoration process.
"If you have something in your head and you have a vision, just follow it to the end."Albert Abdouche, Americus Hotel owner
He admitted getting it right was a lot of work, but Abdouche said it was a labor of love, and he was determined to get it right.
“You just have to get up every day and go to work. And don’t listen to negative stuff,” Abdouche said. “If you have something in your head and you have a vision, just follow it to the end. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel. If you see a nice light, follow that light. Don’t let anyone stop you.”
Moving forward, Abdouche said he hopes the Americus Hotel can become a landmark in Center City Allentown, as it was in decades long gone.
And he thinks it can be done by putting a focus on creating new memories.
“I’ve been in this hotel for years, and people walk in and say, ‘I did my wedding here’ or ‘My mom did her wedding here,’ and it has a history," Abdouche said.
"Now, I’m rebuilding that history again. So 20 years from now, they can tell people, 'I did my wedding here.' I’m keeping that going,” he added.
