Hotel topping not just for workers

Tag : Furniture Bolts
Hotel topping not just for workers 08:08 AM EDT on Saturday, July 12, 2008 By Donita Naylor

Journal Staff Writer
WESTERLY -- In Watch Hill, where the old Ocean House is being builtanew, people lined up at 8:30 yesterday morning to make sure theirnames go up in history.
At 9 a.m., a steel beam painted Ocean House Yellow was set upacross the street from where the dilapidated old hotel wasdemolished in 2005. The grand lady is set to reawaken in 2010 withfive-star amenities and up-to-code safety features, and everyonewas invited to sign the beam before the topping-off ceremony.
Two hundred had signed by noon, according to Bob Woods, a managerin what so far is a $135-million project.
The ceremony drew a variety of people. People in dresses and suitsor swimsuits and shorts. People who came by bicycle from 10 milesaway and by wheelchair from across the street. The Levins family ofShelter Harbor said they came because visiting their “BigYellow Girl” was always part of summer. One woman came fromConnecticut because her father, Bob McCord, delivered strawberriesand cream to the hotel before she was born.
Principal owner Chuck Royce was nearly the last to sign before the2 p.m. ceremony. So was Bruce Kirchner, who moved to Westerly Roada year ago. Kirchner barely had time to squeeze in the name of onemore family member when everyone was directed to seats in the tentand the beam was whisked away by a construction forklift.
As speakers took the podium and guests sipped tea and lemonade, thebeam was lifted high for a celebratory lap over the site.
Crane operator Kevin Martin, 25, lowered the beam for steelworkersto bolt it onto a 20-ton tower, a replica of the one that blew offin the hurricane of 1938.
As they worked out of sight, state and town officials spoke andRoyce acknowledged his “right-hand man,” NicholasMoore, who was the lawyer for neighbors who opposed redevelopment.Then he introduced a mystery guest, a living artifact of the olddays, a man who had watched some of the day’s dignitariesgrow up — the hotel’s longtime lifeguard, Sammy Fusaro.
Moore said before the ceremony that although the last guests leftthe hotel in 2003, the partnership picked up and continued thelifeguard tradition in the summer of 2004, with “a number ofsaves” to their credit.
Moore said that although the Ocean House won’t providebeach-only parking or dedicate a right of way for beachgoers tocross, the design opens a wider ocean view for people on thestreet, with much of the facility hidden underground.
Anyone will be able to book a room or dine in one of therestaurants. And the public, he said, is welcome in the re-createdlobby and the veranda.
About 4,000 square feet of artifacts were harvested from the oldhotel, he said, including some furniture, the front door andbalcony and two wooden phone booths. Stones from the fireplace aresitting in buckets in Pawcatuck, he said, waiting to take theirformer places.
The hotel, built shortly after the Civil War, had no plumbing,heating, air conditioning or electricity then. Every new systemcost the structure some of its strength.
Now systems such as fire and hurricane protections are integratedinto the design.
Crane operator Martin lowered the tower toward the hands ofsteelworkers, who guided it into place and fastened the bolts.Woods said the signatures will not be plastered over but will beexposed in the attic space.
The new Ocean House will stay open all year with 48 hotel rooms, 24residences, underground parking, a spa, lap pool and three diningvenues.
Ebbie Elmer in the sales office said she has taken calls for eightweddings.
She congratulated one woman, who asked about availability two yearsfrom now, on her engagement.
“Oh,” the woman answered, “I’m not engagedyet.”
dnaylor@projo.com