Kris
February 7th, 2003, 02:38 PM
February 5, 2003
Sailors, Runaways and Now, Bicoastal Hoteliers
By NADINE BROZAN
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/02/05/business/05HOTE.1large.jpg
A portholed Chelsea building, designed in the 60's for a sailors' union and later enlisted as a teenagers' shelter, is to be redeveloped as a hotel.
Guest rooms built for members of a sailors' union — each with windows shaped like portholes — and later used by runaway teenagers and then by visitors from China are soon to be occupied, the building's new owners hope, by hip visitors to New York in what is now the Maritime Hotel.
The hotel is the latest incarnation of the white-tile 12-story structure that occupies the blockfront on the east side of Ninth Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets.
Its introduction signifies a new partnership on the New York hotel scene: that of the club and restaurant impresarios Sean K. MacPherson and Eric Goode, who offered the winning bid for the property, $19 million when it was sold in 2001, and the hotel developers Richard Born and Ira Drukier.
Mr. MacPherson and Mr. Goode are known individually for clubs in New York, like Mr. Goode's Area, MK and the Bowery Bar; in Los Angeles for places like Mr. MacPherson's Bar Marmont, Swingers and Jones; and jointly for the Park restaurant in New York, created from three former taxi garages on 10th Avenue near 18th Street.
No sooner did the two club operators complete the acquisition than they called Mr. Born and Mr. Drukier, developers, owners and operators of hotels including the Chambers and the Stanhope, as well as the glassy loft condominium towers on Perry Street designed by Richard Meier. Mr. Born and Mr. Drukier had also bid on the old union building.
"They signed the contract to buy and called me about 10 minutes later and said they wanted to talk about doing it together," Mr. Born said. "We then joined forces to buy the property and own the hotel.
"Then Sept. 11 happened, and we all looked at each other and asked, `Do we really want to move forward?' " he recalled. "We had several other hotel sites that we put on hold, but we made a decision to move forward with this because we think we're going to offer a product that is a little unique and that at our price point, we can survive and prosper even post-9/11." The total cost of the project is about $33 million.
The building has an eclectic past. It was designed in 1966 for the National Maritime Union by Albert C. Ledner, a New Orleans architect. It served as the annex to the union's main building on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets and included living quarters and instructional, medical and recreation space.
In 1987 it was converted into a home for runaway youths by Covenant House. Nine years later, it changed hands again, when it was sold to the New York Service Center for Chinese Study Fellows, which provided a variety of housing and educational services for Chinese students, artists and businesspeople.
Each team of partners involved in the current renovation provided different skills. "Clearly, they had never done a project like this," Mr. Born said of his restaurateur partners. "But they had the vision, determination, substantial personal capital and energy. They are the vision people, and we are the real estate and finance guys."
Mr. MacPherson and Mr. Goode also designed the changes in the building's exterior and interior. "They drew everything out," Mr. Born said. "We have engineers and architects who reviewed their designs and made them conform to city codes and requirements."
Pointing to the restoration of the wood-slatted, barrel-vaulted ceiling in the ballroom that was once the union hiring hall, Mr. MacPherson said, "We're trying to restore as much of the original as possible."
The existing walls of the 120 guest rooms and 4 suites, each facing west and with a circular window five feet in diameter, are staying in place. The rooms, with new dark teak built-in furnishings and glossy white ceilings, are vaguely evocative of ship staterooms. The rooms are expected to rent for around $200 a night.
At the street level, "our emphasis will be on beautiful gardens," Mr. Goode said. A 12,000-square-foot plaza on the Ninth Avenue side of the building, will be elevated eight feet off the ground. In the middle will be a 5,000-square-foot garden with a pond and lily pads.
The garden is to be flanked by a restaurant, probably Mediterranean, and a bar. Both will have additional gardens on their roofs. There will be a Japanese restaurant inside.
Despite the downturn in hotel occupancy, Mr. Born says he thinks the partnership has a successful formula for the hotel.
"Yes, there has been a lot of erosion in hotel rates," he said, "but maybe the high levels we got used to in 1999 and 2000 were not normal. And clearly, with the two restaurants, ballroom and gardens, we will potentially have between 1,000 and 2,000 people eating there every day."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Sailors, Runaways and Now, Bicoastal Hoteliers
By NADINE BROZAN
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/02/05/business/05HOTE.1large.jpg
A portholed Chelsea building, designed in the 60's for a sailors' union and later enlisted as a teenagers' shelter, is to be redeveloped as a hotel.
Guest rooms built for members of a sailors' union — each with windows shaped like portholes — and later used by runaway teenagers and then by visitors from China are soon to be occupied, the building's new owners hope, by hip visitors to New York in what is now the Maritime Hotel.
The hotel is the latest incarnation of the white-tile 12-story structure that occupies the blockfront on the east side of Ninth Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets.
Its introduction signifies a new partnership on the New York hotel scene: that of the club and restaurant impresarios Sean K. MacPherson and Eric Goode, who offered the winning bid for the property, $19 million when it was sold in 2001, and the hotel developers Richard Born and Ira Drukier.
Mr. MacPherson and Mr. Goode are known individually for clubs in New York, like Mr. Goode's Area, MK and the Bowery Bar; in Los Angeles for places like Mr. MacPherson's Bar Marmont, Swingers and Jones; and jointly for the Park restaurant in New York, created from three former taxi garages on 10th Avenue near 18th Street.
No sooner did the two club operators complete the acquisition than they called Mr. Born and Mr. Drukier, developers, owners and operators of hotels including the Chambers and the Stanhope, as well as the glassy loft condominium towers on Perry Street designed by Richard Meier. Mr. Born and Mr. Drukier had also bid on the old union building.
"They signed the contract to buy and called me about 10 minutes later and said they wanted to talk about doing it together," Mr. Born said. "We then joined forces to buy the property and own the hotel.
"Then Sept. 11 happened, and we all looked at each other and asked, `Do we really want to move forward?' " he recalled. "We had several other hotel sites that we put on hold, but we made a decision to move forward with this because we think we're going to offer a product that is a little unique and that at our price point, we can survive and prosper even post-9/11." The total cost of the project is about $33 million.
The building has an eclectic past. It was designed in 1966 for the National Maritime Union by Albert C. Ledner, a New Orleans architect. It served as the annex to the union's main building on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets and included living quarters and instructional, medical and recreation space.
In 1987 it was converted into a home for runaway youths by Covenant House. Nine years later, it changed hands again, when it was sold to the New York Service Center for Chinese Study Fellows, which provided a variety of housing and educational services for Chinese students, artists and businesspeople.
Each team of partners involved in the current renovation provided different skills. "Clearly, they had never done a project like this," Mr. Born said of his restaurateur partners. "But they had the vision, determination, substantial personal capital and energy. They are the vision people, and we are the real estate and finance guys."
Mr. MacPherson and Mr. Goode also designed the changes in the building's exterior and interior. "They drew everything out," Mr. Born said. "We have engineers and architects who reviewed their designs and made them conform to city codes and requirements."
Pointing to the restoration of the wood-slatted, barrel-vaulted ceiling in the ballroom that was once the union hiring hall, Mr. MacPherson said, "We're trying to restore as much of the original as possible."
The existing walls of the 120 guest rooms and 4 suites, each facing west and with a circular window five feet in diameter, are staying in place. The rooms, with new dark teak built-in furnishings and glossy white ceilings, are vaguely evocative of ship staterooms. The rooms are expected to rent for around $200 a night.
At the street level, "our emphasis will be on beautiful gardens," Mr. Goode said. A 12,000-square-foot plaza on the Ninth Avenue side of the building, will be elevated eight feet off the ground. In the middle will be a 5,000-square-foot garden with a pond and lily pads.
The garden is to be flanked by a restaurant, probably Mediterranean, and a bar. Both will have additional gardens on their roofs. There will be a Japanese restaurant inside.
Despite the downturn in hotel occupancy, Mr. Born says he thinks the partnership has a successful formula for the hotel.
"Yes, there has been a lot of erosion in hotel rates," he said, "but maybe the high levels we got used to in 1999 and 2000 were not normal. And clearly, with the two restaurants, ballroom and gardens, we will potentially have between 1,000 and 2,000 people eating there every day."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company