After multi-million-dollar renovations are complete, Atrium on Third to add DoubleTree by Hilton to name

QUINCY — A multi-million-dollar renovation is expected to take about 18 months to complete at a Downtown Quincy hotel.

Brian Fox, president of Tracy Holdings LLC, says not only will the Atrium at Third have a new look but a new name when the renovation is complete. He said the cost of installing new floors, furniture, bathrooms, showers and plumbing in each of the 145 guest rooms, as well as the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, will be between $5.7 million and $10 million.

Once all of that work is complete, the 17,500-square-foot hotel will be named the Atrium Hotel at Third, DoubleTree by Hilton.

“The hotel is important to the city, and it’s important for us to spruce it up,” Fox said. “It’s a big job. It’s a big process. It’s a big decision. Hilton has a standard, and it’s like, ‘You have to meet this or you don’t get to fly our flag.’ It’s a good opportunity for us to revamp the hotel, put new stuff into it, get new energy into it and bring that Hilton brand back to Quincy. And if you talk to Hilton, they wanted a Hilton back into Quincy.”

Holly Cain, executive director of the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, says having a Hilton will be a shot in the arm to Quincy’s tourism business.

“When you talk about people’s points, whether it’s leisure or business, they know the standard of a Hilton,” she said. “It helps us keep people in Quincy. The Hilton brand is very important. It’s a full-service hotel in our hospitality quarter, right next to our convention center. It’s an ideal hotel for many of our main conventions, and the brand just accentuates it. People know the value in that standard.”

“You know what you’re getting,” Fox said. “One thing with Hilton is their standards. It’s like when you walk into a Starbucks and get a drink. It’s the same drink here that it’s going to be in Asheville, N.C., or Seattle. It’s the same thing with the Hilton brand. You know what you’re getting when you walk in. There are no deviations between properties.

“There are people who only want to stay at Hiltons. When it pops up in their Google search, they don’t have to search anywhere else. They can just go straight there. The DoubleTree name carries a lot of weight.”

One change that won’t happen, Fox said, is the removal of the indoor pool. He said Hilton officials recommended closing it and building one outside. Instead, a wall will be built to separate it from the restaurant and lounge area.

“We don’t want it to look like some random wall, but the design process makes it look like it’s been around for years,” Fox said.

The front desk will be moved, and the banquet spaces will be reworked.

The building opened in August 1984 as the Quincy Holiday Inn. It later was known as the Holidome when operated by Quincy Partners Ltd., a corporation launched by the Albanese family of Springfield. The property was sold to Marine Bank in August 2006 to settle a foreclosure suit. Abbott Development bought the hotel in February 2008. Tracy Holdings bought it in October 2013. That also was the last time the hotel was renovated.

“That (renovation) wasn’t nearly as extensive as what you’re talking about now,” Fox said. “They did a lot of stuff in the atrium, and they walled off some of the rooms that used to have sliding glass doors, but they didn’t really have to change the floor. They were able to keep a little bit more. Hilton doesn’t let you keep anything.”

The last time a Hilton flag flew from one of Quincy’s hotels was in 2018 when the hotel at 225 S. Fourth — also owned by Tracy Holdings — was known as a Hampton Inn. It now is a Quality Inn. The closest Hilton properties to Quincy since then are Hampton Inns in Macomb and Keokuk, Iowa.

“Hilton misses that brand being in this market because you have other strong brands like IHG, Holiday Inn and Marriott in Quincy,” Fox said. 

Demolition started Jan. 2, and “it’s hot and heavy right now,” Fox said. He said renovation of the rooms has four phases, and he expects that process to take between 14 and 18 months. He said at least a minimum of half of the hotel’s guest rooms should remain open during the renovation.

Fox also said a new parking lot will be poured as well.

“That’s going to be weather-dependent,” he said. “We were hoping to start on that this year, but we’re going to hold off until next year because we’re going to have all the cranes and the equipment (for the hotel renovation). Now it’s going to be dependent on the weather next year to get that in. Can it be March? Is it going to be late winter? Could it be April?”

Fox said plans to renovate Napoli’s Italian Restaurant inside the facility are on hold. DoubleTree hotels are full-service hotels, meaning they must serve three meals a day while also offering room service. The hotel bar also must remain open daily, and the Atrium on Third bar is only open Thursday through Saturday.

“We’re still in early discussions on how we’re going do all of that,” he said. “Are we going to completely change the layout? We’re not sure. We’re still looking at other hotels and working with Hilton on designing what they want. The restaurant will be in phase three (of the renovation of the rest of the hotel). We’re still designing phase one.”

Fox said the hotel has 25 full-time employees and likely will add another 12 to 15.