The Front Hotel Forthcoming: The Vision and the View
The Front Hotel, being built on Front St. in Port Jervis by physical education teacher Cory Puopolo and contractor Martin McDonough, may open in the fall.
The vision for the seven-story Front Hotel is increasingly visible, as its construction progresses on Front St. in Port Jervis. All seven stories are in place, soon to be sheathed in black metal and copper panels. The outside will be finished in June, and plumbing is now being installed ahead of the sheetrock inside, said co-owner Cory Puopolo.
“We hope to open this fall,” he said. “Mike Ward is working on the ball and lighting for the New Year’s Eve ball drop.”
Ward, president of the Outdoor Club of Port Jervis, has had a long career doing lighting and wiring for Broadway shows.
Puopolo showed off the beginnings of the seventh floor 1000-square-foot bar with 400-square-foot patio overlooking the city and beyond, of which Puopolo had captured a dramatic sunset view in a photo two days earlier.
“The seventh floor will be used as a possible members only lounge for part of the week, then open for parties and to the public on weekends,” Puopolo said. “Or we’ll open it for the public and parties all week and weekends. The seventh floor we’re thinking of opening for morning breakfast each day as well.”
The sixth floor also has an interior rooftop bar and patios with seating along the walls offering grand views. The interior will have a long bar, and 17-foot accordion doors can divide the space, he said.
The hotel’s 24 rooms will be 300 square feet or more, and 20 will have a king size bed and a pull-out couch, Puopolo said. Four will have two queen size beds and pull-out couches. All bathrooms will have both rain showerheads and regular ones. Room windows are designed to look like framed pictures, as they frame the hotel’s views of the city and surroundings.
In the basement, the 2000-square-foot kitchen infrastructure is being built to cook for the steakhouse restaurant planned for the first floor, which will seat 100 people. Additionally, the first floor will have a pizza to go window that will also serve the hotel’s 24 rooms and rooftop bar.
Already Puopolo gets many inquiries about event reservations, he said.
“I get messages about class reunions, weddings and rooms. I’ve been asked 50 times about weddings and birthday parties and New Year’s Eve. I get daily messages on Facebook. Teachers and others ask about bartending work. Basketball players want to be waiters. They expect it to be a cool hangout and make lots of tips. My mother wants to be a greeter.”
Inquiries come from as far away as Middletown, but others are looking for a job closer to home. Most comments he gets are positive, he said, and he attributes negative ones to fear of change or doubt that Port Jervis can return to being the thriving scene it once was.
See Building Seven Stories on Deep Roots for more on the origins of the Front Hotel.
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