A century in Newark: How the Robert Treat Hotel survived and thrived over the past 100 years

Throughout its varied history, the hotel has played host to four U.S. presidents, Albert Einstein, and the Dalai Lama.

NEWARK -- Four U.S. presidents, the leader of the country's Civil Rights Movement, and the physicist who developed the theory of relativity are just a few of the distinguished guests who have stayed at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark over the past 100 years.

Like the city it calls home, the Robert Treat has endured a long and varied history, and is now, locals say, poised to be a part of Newark's revitalization.

The Robert Treat, named for the colonial leader who founded the city, opened in 1916, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Newark's founding. Then President and First Lady Woodrow and Edith Wilson were among its first guests. The 15-story, 176-room hotel on Park Place was the first luxury hotel in the city. It boasted a lobby with large columns and marble steps, and was known for its impressive guest rooms.

Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter all stayed at the Treat. It hosted grand dinners and events that honored guests like Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Throughout its 100 years, historians say the hotel has anticipated and embraced the changing nature of the city it calls home.

Much of Newark's recent history is defined by the 1967 riots, and a demographic shift from a mostly middle class, white population to a majority poor, black one. Historians say the Treat survived Newark's transition by embracing it.

"Black folks have always felt comfortable at that hotel," said Junius Williams, professor and the Director of the Abbott Leadership Institute at Rutgers University - Newark.

The hotel, he said, has had "class and race-based success. The black political establishment has always been welcome there, and it was able to maintain its success with the white population, and across different classes, as well."

The hotel hosted cultural and political events throughout the period, Williams said, ranging from boxing matches to mayoral birthday parties.

But according to its current owner, by the 1980s, the hotel had lost a bit of its own history. A fire had destroyed the building's original lobby, and it had gone through several ownership changes.

"It wasn't even called the Robert Treat anymore," said Miles Berger, chairman and chief executive officer of the Berger Organization, which purchased the hotel in 1986.

"It was a 'Quality Inn.'"

Berger said one of his first orders of business was to partner with the Best Western Hotel chain -- which allows its members to use other hotel names -- and reclaim the 'Robert Treat' moniker.

The company has done more than $10 million in renovations to the hotel, which Berger said both upgraded and updated its facilities and guest rooms, and restored its lobby.

As Newark entered a period of citywide rebuilding in the 1990s, the Robert Treat's location proved to be key. It is in the most redeveloped area of the city, and acts as a neighbor to venues like NJPAC, which opened in 1997, the Prudential Center, which opened in 2007, and Military Park, which was completely refurbished in 2014.

Maize, the hotel's ground floor restaurant, opened in 2000. The hotel now, Berger said, caters to guests from around the world, many of whom are visiting New York City, but opt to stay in Newark because of the quick public transportation into NYC, and its cheaper hotel rates.

In recent years, the Robert Treat has hosted events ranging from Mayor Ras Baraka's inaugural ball to Newark Comic Con, and even lodged contestants when "America's Got Talent" filmed in Newark.

Locals say the city is experiencing a renaissance. Berger agrees.

"We've been talking about it for 30 years, but now it is actually happening," he said.

As for the hotel's 100th birthday, Berger said he is currently working with the Newark Celebrates 350 committee to design a celebration event that will coincide with the ongoing, yearlong slate of events commemorating the city's 350th anniversary. He said he also plans to continue the hotel's tradition -- a delicate balancing act of changing with the city, while retaining its own history.

"All of the other great hotels of the city have closed," Berger said. Why the Robert Treat didn't suffer the same fate?

"It was probably the right size (and location)...and maybe just luck."