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Wilson Enterprises plans
to leave Midtown Tower
Wilson Enterprises plans
to leave Midtown Tower
Listen to this articleWilson Enterprises plans to vacate its Midtown Tower offices at the end of the month, President Anthony Wilson says.
The loss of the real estate development firm’s 2,500 square feet of space will not greatly affect the 208,000-square-foot building’s occupancy rate.
Nevertheless, it will end more than three decades of continuous occupancy by a firm that was among Midtown’s charter tenants and whose founders–Wilson’s father, Herbert, and uncle, Edwin–played a considerable role in developing the tower and the pioneering indoor shopping mall on which its sits.
The decision to move comes as his duties as chairman and CEO of Hudson Hotels Corp. claim an increasing amount of his time, Wilson said.
Previously known as Microtel Franchise and Development Corp., Hudson Hotels owns and manages a growing string of Microtels along with a number of hotel properties.
Wilson, who previously had been Hudson Hotels’ chairman, took over active operation of the hotel firm after founder Loren Ansley died unexpectedly in 1992.
He has since built it from a struggling chain with a good idea to an rising budget-segment hotel firm. Last year, Wilson sold the Microtel name and Hudson Hotels’ franchising business to Michael Levin, a highly respected former Holiday Inn International franchising whiz.
He also still heads Wilson Enterprises, which owns and manages some 1 million square feet of industrial and commercial space in the Rochester area.
The commute between Wilson Enterprises’ posh Midtown suite and Hudson Hotels’ 1 Airport Way headquarters “just got to be too much,” Wilson said. So he decided to move Wilson Enterprises to a corner of the hotel firm’s headquarters.
“I’m spending virtually 100 percent of my time (at Hudson Hotels). It just didn’t make sense,” Wilson said.
Still, he conceded, the move will stir some pangs.
“It was a chapter in history,” Wilson said. “I can’t say I’ve got no regrets, but you move on and go on your way.”
