NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Constructions has begun to convert a long-vacant building on New Haven’s Long Wharf into an energy efficient hotel and conference center.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday inside the Pirelli building, which was purchased for $1.2 million from IKEA in January by developer Bruce Becker.
Becker said his 165-room Hotel Marcel is expected to be the nation’s first “net-zero emissions” hotel when it is completed next summer.
The building’s renovation includes the installation of solar panels and high-efficiency heat pumps.
The hotel is being named for Marcel Breuer, the famed modernist architect who designed the building in 1968 to look from a distance like a floating concrete cube.
Officials say the project will bring with it several hundred construction jobs and 40 full-time positions at the hotel.
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