July 31–Tears welled up in Mikki Amici Felix’s eyes as the years rolled back and she found herself in the packed ballroom of the Americus Center in downtown Allentown. A three-man band played jazz as sharply dressed staff served appetizers to hundreds of people.
Her father, Rocco Amici, worked for 28 years in the landmark hotel’s kitchen. To see him, she would visit the kitchen after her dance classes. She and her sister would practice their tap steps on the dance floor as her father cooked their meals. In 1968, at age 14, she got her first job there, helping her father with his popular smorgasbord.
“I’ve been nuts excited about this place. This was my home as a kid,” Felix said from the cavernous kitchen her father once ruled.
The hundreds of people and notes of “The Girl from Ipanema” filling the ground floor Thursday weren’t some distant memory. As the crowd toured, others were lined up waiting to get in. They wanted to get a glimpse of the work developer and owner Albert Abdouche has done toward restoring the long-closed, 88-year-old hotel at Sixth and Hamilton streets. He opened the hotel to the public for several hours to show them.
Few expressed disappointment with what they found. Visitors sipped wine in front of a mural of a Sumerian goddess as the curious roamed the mezzanine. A velvet rope kept people from peeking into a back conference room, but ornate furniture hinted at the possibilities.
“I am so excited that Allentown is coming back to what it was back then. It’s a monumental historic site,” said Jean Raymond-Hoffman, who chose the hotel for her wedding reception 23 years ago because of its elegance. She was pleased to see the chandeliers remain in place over the marble lobby.
Nostalgia might have obscured some of the remaining issues. By the time the 13-story Americus closed in 2003, it had fallen into disrepair, and some of that showed on close inspection. Cushion stuffing spilled out of cuts in the upholstery on the mezzanine, and someone made the mistake of thinking the urinals were functioning. A staffer told visitors they would not be able to tour the upper floors, many of which have not been touched in decades.
Abdouche said he will look to leverage the support he received Thursday as he tries to push the project ahead. For two years, he has been trying to secure tax subsidies from Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone to refurbish the building. He said the turnout proves there’s enough interest to support his vision of an 85-room hotel with 48 apartments, along with office space on the top floors and street side storefronts.
While floor-plan displays boasted a nightclub and cafe were already in place, the only tenant occupying the building is a drycleaner on Hamilton Street. The city approved plans to open the cafe, and a proposed hair salon will undergo inspection soon.
“This building is very important to the people. A lot of people showed up tonight because of what this place means to them,” Abdouche said. “I need to get this going. My name is out there, and I need to honor my name.”
But a lobby full of supporters doesn’t change the harsh financial truths facing the project, said Alan Jennings, chairman of the Project Review Committee of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority. After touring some of the off-limits areas upstairs with Abdouche, Jennings applauded Abdouche’s effort but said the Whitehall Township developer has not proved he’s up to the task.
Abdouche believes he can restore the Americus to its former glory with $13.2 million, but ANIZDA board members think it would cost about twice that amount. They fear Abdouche will run out of money before completing the project, leaving the city with a white elephant. Even if the estimate is accurate, Abdouche has never handled a project of this size or worked in the hospitality industry.
“We need to hear what it would cost to make this a first-class landmark hotel,” Jennings said. “All we want to do is make sure the facility is in working order and that we’re being good stewards of taxpayers’ money.”
Reporter Matt Assad contributed to this story.
