Downtown Newark's first hotel in more than 40 years is open for business, hosting its first guest Sunday night.

Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Courtyard by Marriott Newark Downtown, located on Broad and Lafayette streets near the Prudential Center. The new, mixed-used hotel has 150 rooms and 14,000 sq. ft. of retail space on the ground floor. The retail space will soon house a 6,000-sq. ft. restaurant, to be announced next month, as well as four smaller stores.

"Visitors want to be part of the Newark story," said Mayor Cory Booker in a press release. "This beautiful new building on Broad Street, built by Tucker Development and the Essex County Building Trades, will host thousands and thousands of Newark visitors. They will bring more life to our streets and tell friends when they return home what a great city Newark is."

Development of the hotel, the city's first in more than four decades, is said to generate as many as 75 permanent jobs through hotel and retail operations. Newark WORKS, the city's one-stop employment center, facilitated hiring for the hotel and will assist in hiring for the retail areas.

The seven-floor hotel is expected to host guests from all over because of its close proximity to Newark Penn Station, Prudential Center and even Newark Liberty International Airport.