Del Monte Corp. Gift of Hotel Benefits RIT and Community

The generous gift of the Rochester Marriott Thruway hotel and property on West Henrietta Road by E.J. Del Monte Corp. to Rochester Institute of Technology is the third contribution valued at $14 million that the university has received since February.

The facility, to be renamed the RIT Inn and Conference Center when RIT assumes ownership on Sept. 1, will benefit the university’s need for additional student housing and at the same time keep the popular banquet, conference and lodging facility open to the community.

This fall, more than 300 RIT upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, many of them international and transfer students, will reside in 170 single and double rooms among the facility’s 304 rooms. The university will provide regular shuttle bus service to and from the inn and its Jefferson Road campus three miles away. Students who drive will be offered preferred parking spaces on campus.

In addition, co-op positions for RIT hospitality and service management majors will be available at the facility.

"Thanks to the generosity of E.J. Del Monte Corp., RIT continues to provide its students with top-of-the-line residential accommodations that keep pace with the university's expanding enrollment," says Albert Simone, RIT president. "Additionally, RIT students majoring in hospitality and service management will be afforded the valuable experience of co-op positions at this first-rate hotel, banquet and conference facility."

Under a three-year management agreement with E. J. Del Monte Corp., the facility will continue to offer banquet, conference and restaurant services. In the first year of the partnership, the inn’s remaining 134 rooms will continue to be available to the public.

"We are delighted to give RIT a gift that will reap benefits for many years to come," says John Del Monte, company president. "We think it’s good for RIT, good for the community and good for us."

The gift from E.J. Del Monte Corp. is the third contribution valued at $14 million that RIT has received within the past six months. In February, a $14 million gift from B. Thomas Golisano established the university’s eighth college, the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. In May, an award of $14 million from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research designated the Information Technology Collaboratory at RIT as one of the state’s Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Centers.

"We appreciate the generosity and support RIT has received, enabling the university to continue to grow as a world-class university," Simone says.

Note: Since 1997, RIT has invested $104 million in student housing for new construction and renovations.

The final phase of University Commons, creating additional housing for 192 students and total accommodations for 960 students, and six newly built, freestanding Greek-organization residences accommodating 96 students, will open this fall.

Including the new RIT Inn and Conference Center, this fall RIT will provide housing for 6,454 students, including accommodations in residence halls, apartment complexes and Greek-organization housing, all of which have been recently renovated.

The university’s total projected enrollment for 2001-2002 is 14,987, an increase of 22.3 percent since 1994.