The Ponce Plaza Hotel & Casino, formerly Ponce Ramada Hotel and Ponce Plaza Ramada Hotel, is a five-story hotel in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

. The hotel opened in the summer of 2009 and is known for the historic value of its structure: its main entrance is a historic colonial structure known as ''"Casa Saurí"'' (Saurí House). In February 2013, the hotel expanded its facilities to include a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, a

cocktail lounge Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar *Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...

, and a 4-story, 200-car

parking garage A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

. On 1 July 2014, the owners left the

Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from th ...

namesake franchise and renamed the hotel Ponce Plaza Hotel & Casino.

Location and features

The hotel is located in the

Ponce Historic Zone The Ponce Historic Zone (Spanish: ''Zona Histórica de Ponce'') is a historic district in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico, consisting of buildings, plazas and structures with distinctive architectures such as Neoclásico Isabelino and the Ponce Cr ...

. It has two major buildings. The first building facing

Plaza Muñoz Rivera Plaza Muñoz Rivera, formally Plaza Luis Muñoz Rivera, is the smaller of the two plazas at Plaza Las Delicias in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is located on the north side of Plaza Las Delicias, north of the larger sout ...

is the historic Casa Saurí structure and it houses six colonial-style rooms plus the hotel's Lola Eclectic Cuisine restaurant. The rear building located on the southeast corner of Calle Reina and Calle Mendez Vigo is a modern four-story structure housing 64 additional guest rooms as well as an indoor

on the first floor and a

fitness center A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, weight room and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness an ...

on the fourth floor. There is also an outdoor swimming pool.

Design

The hotel was designed in 2006-2009 by architects Fernando Bonnín and Javier Bonnín of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

History

The historic 1882 Casa Saurí-Rubert was meticulously rebuilt to accommodate the hotel." On the first floor of this Casa Saurí building the hotel now houses its front desk, lobby, conference room/breakfast room, and restaurant. The second floor accommodates six colonial-style guest rooms. These six rooms are all designed to follow 19th century historic themes. The hotel was built with incentives under Law 212 of the Commonwealth. Félix Sauri y Vivas was a Ponce businessman and

hacienda A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...

holder and mayor of Ponce in 1895. Casa Sauri is said to be the third oldest residence still standing in Ponce.

Re-construction

Munoz Holdings invested $15 million in the restoration and development of the original Casa Sauri property and development of the hotel's modern 5-story tower.

Expansion

In August 2011, hotel owners announced plans to enlarge the hotel with the addition of a

, a large

conference room A conference hall, conference room, or meeting room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. Room It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even ...

, a second restaurant, and 150 additional parking spaces. The plans called for the development of the property immediately to the south of the current historic Casa Saurí, a property which also faces Plaza Muñoz Rivera. The new casino would boast 9,500 square feet of space, and the new conference rooms would be able to accommodate 200 people in a space of 6,000 square feet. The planned parking garage opened two years later, in 2013. The casino opened in February 2013, together with the 4-story, 200-car

.''Estrenan expansión en Ramada Ponce.''
Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 27 February 2013. Year 31. Issue 1526. Page 4. Retrieved 27 February 2013.

References

External links

Photo of Casa Sauri (now (2020), Ponce Plaza Hotel & Casino) during the 1910s when it housed ''Liceo Ponceño,'' Puerto Rico's first girls-only school. Liceo Ponceño occupied the structure until the 1950s. (See Luis Fortuño Janeiro. ''Album Histórico de Ponce (1692-1963).'' Page 374. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963.) Retrieved 11 July 2020.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce Plaza Hotel and Casino Hotels in Ponce, Puerto Rico Houses in Puerto Rico Casinos in Puerto Rico Houses completed in 1882 Hotels established in 2009 2009 establishments in Puerto Rico Companies based in Ponce, Puerto Rico 1882 establishments in Puerto Rico Casino hotels in Puerto Rico