NYC Hotel News

[krulltime]

Western front triumphs in city hotel battles
Development surges; rates rival East Side's

By Lisa Fickenscher
Published on May 31, 2004

When Le Parker Meridien opened on West 57th Street in 1981, conventional wisdom had it that building a hotel west of Fifth Avenue was folly. Building one west of Sixth Avenue--a luxury property, no less--was seen as pure insanity.

"Everyone was shaking their heads at the time," says Steven Piper, general manager of the 731-room hotel, located between Sixth and Seventh avenues.

Twenty-three years later, Le Parker Meridien is a stunning success, with $350-a-night rooms and 90% occupancy, and the hotel landscape around the pioneer has been transformed.

In the past five years, 15 hotels have sprouted on the West Side, according to PKF Consulting, a hotel advisory firm. Even more surprising, demand for rooms has been so strong among business executives and well-heeled tourists that for the first time, room rates on the West Side as a whole have recently pulled within a stone's throw of those at the posh hotels on the East Side.

Leading the West Side's charge for the high ground in the room rate battle are two superluxury entries at Columbus Circle, the Mandarin Oriental New York and Trump International Hotel & Towers. Both charge upward of $500 for a room, and both boast occupancy rates well above 80% and some nights that are completely sold out.

Developers have taken notice of the seismic shift in the market. Virtually all of the hotels now being planned will be located on the West Side. In the next five years, three hotels with more than 400 rooms apiece will rise in that area; eight smaller hotels there will be renovated, says Sean Hennessey, president of hotel consulting firm Lodging Investment Advisors.

In contrast to the almost frenetic pace of hotel expansion on the West Side of midtown, only a few inns have opened east of Fifth Avenue in recent years, and most have been small. No major projects are planned there for the near future.

"The center of gravity has moved to Times Square," says Jeffrey Katz, chief executive of Sherwood Equities. His company built the Renaissance Hotel there in 1990, and it may build a hotel next year at 1600 Broadway, on a 13,000-square-foot parcel that Sherwood has owned since 1985.

Mr. Katz notes that the westward shift has come on the heels of increases in the area's population of businesses and tourists. "It's only natural to see hotel development catch up," he says.

The opening of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 10th Avenue nearly 20 years ago established a solid foundation for hotel growth on that side of town. Since then, 27 hotels have opened in western midtown.

The transformation of Times Square over the past decade provided another powerful push.

Corporate titans such as Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young, Viacom and Conde Nast have moved into Times Square and set up corporate accounts at neighboring hotels.

Visitor totals rising

Furthermore, while tourists have always been drawn to the theater district, relatively new attractions such as ESPN Sports Zone, Madame Tussaud's wax museum, ABC's and MTV's studios, and B.B. King Blues Club & Grill are bringing even larger crowds to the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, overall demand for hotel rooms here is rising. An estimated 36.5 million visitors came to the Big Apple last year, reports NYC & Company, the city's tourism and marketing arm. That tops the previous peak in 1999, when New York attracted 36.4 million visitors.

The need for more hotel rooms has never been greater, yet the supply is being eaten away because properties are being converted to residential use. To take advantage of the red-hot housing market, the owners of four hotels in Manhattan with a total of 968 rooms are converting their properties to apartments, says Thomas McConnell, senior managing director of Cushman & Wakefield's hotel transaction group. Another three hotels are rumored to be following suit.

"We have a reduction in rooms, an increase in occupancy levels and the potential expansion of the Javits Center, which all point toward new development," says Mr. McConnell.

The West Side will almost certainly get the lion's share of the expansion, because the area has both the commercial momentum and the space. Unlike the densely packed East Side, the other side of town still has plenty of low-rise blocks that could make excellent hotel sites.

Increasingly, the West Side is preferred not just by opportunistic developers but also by well-to-do travelers, who are actually willing in some cases to pay more for rooms west of Fifth.

"We definitely see a shift from the East to the West Side," says Bradford Wilson, vice president of operations for W Hotels.

Higher prices on West Side

The W New York-Times Square, for example, sells out more quickly than its sister property on East 49th Street and Lexington Avenue, although its average room rate is usually $10 to $20 more.

For decades, eastern midtown has enjoyed bragging rights to the most expensive beds in the city, buoyed by such five-star properties as The St. Regis, Four Seasons, The Waldorf-Astoria, The Pierre and the Palace.

But this paradigm is changing. Last year, the rate disparity diminished, with East Side hotels charging $209 on average--just $24 more than their western counterparts. That was barely half the dollar figure that separated the two areas in 2000, according to PKF Consulting.

"There are more higher-end hotels on the West Side than ever before, and the rate gap is narrowing," says Michael Stengel, general manager of the Marriott Marquis.

Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

[krulltime]

An estimated 36.5 million visitors came to the Big Apple last year

:shock: That is amazing!!! There are whole countries that have that amount of people.

[krulltime]

Rooms for improvement


June 18, 2004

Hotel renovations are the rage right now, as properties primp for an improving economy. Two dated properties, the Algonquin Hotel and the Metropolitan Hotel, are betting that they can recapture the glamour of their glory days with million-dollar face-lifts.

The Algonquin Hotel-home of the famed Algonquin Round Table-is closing for four weeks on June 27, for the first time in its 102-year history. It will sink $3 million into such modern amenities as wireless Internet access and flat-screen televisions. The hotel, however, will keep the famous New Yorker wallpaper in its corridors.

When the Metropolitan is finished with its $35 million makeover this fall, it will be renamed the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, following its sale last year from the Tisch family to developers who are branding it as a Hilton. The famous Seven Year Itch scene in which Marilyn Monroe's dress flies up around her was filmed in front of the hotel.


Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

[krulltime]

Midtown hotel lures taxis


by Lisa Fickenscher
June 18, 2004

In an effort to drum up business, the Alex Hotel in midtown set up an unofficial taxi stand this week, complete with homemade chocolate chip cookies, coffee and even branded mugs for passing cabbies.

"We want to show recognition to the taxi drivers," says General Manager Mary Lou Pollack. "Then they'll know there is a hotel on 45th Street." Yellow cabs driving by the property, which opened in November at 205 E. 45th St., were greeted on Thursday by a large banner reading “Taxi Appreciation Day” and beckoned over by hotel executives, who handed treats to the hacks and told them about the Alex.

The promotion also was meant to show cabbies that the hotel is 'yellow-cab friendly,' so that when a driver brings a guest to the hotel from one of the airports, for example, the doormen will not favor a limousine over the taxi when a departing guest needs a ride.


Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

[krulltime]

HARD ROCK HOTEL REVIVES PARAMOUNT DEAL FOR $128M


By LOIS WEISS
July 7, 2004

THE hardball played by Ian Schrager has paid off.

When the Hard Rock Hotel failed to close a deal last month to buy Schrager's Times Square Paramount hotel, Schrager told The Post he would keep the deposit and put the property back on the block.

Now the Hard Rock folks have decided to go through with the deal, paying slightly more than the original $125 million purchase price.

Schrager told us, "We're selling it for $128.5 million and we're only selling 90 percent."

After Hard Rock and partner Becker Ventures defaulted on the $5 million deposit, Schrager's Northstar Capital partners renegotiated the bottom line.

"That's the deal that was made," Schrager said. "If we marketed it again we would have gotten more, but I'm interested in other things. We have a retained interest, and I'm moving on."

Mark Gordon of Sonnenblick-Gordon, a hotel marketer who was hired by Schrager to resell it, said, "It's a great opportunity for the buyer and seller. It will give the Hard Rock folks a flagship location in New York and allows the seller to sell at a good price so they can redeploy the capital."

The hotel will be part of the Sol Melia group.

At the end of last month, Schrager also concluded a sale/leaseback of The Clift in San Francisco to Divco West. The $71 million deal is expected to enable Schrager and Northstar to pull the hotel chain out of its bankruptcy court restructuring.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[billyblancoNYC]

HARD ROCK HOTEL REVIVES PARAMOUNT DEAL FOR $128M


By LOIS WEISS
July 7, 2004

THE hardball played by Ian Schrager has paid off.

When the Hard Rock Hotel failed to close a deal last month to buy Schrager's Times Square Paramount hotel, Schrager told The Post he would keep the deposit and put the property back on the block.

Now the Hard Rock folks have decided to go through with the deal, paying slightly more than the original $125 million purchase price.

Schrager told us, "We're selling it for $128.5 million and we're only selling 90 percent."

After Hard Rock and partner Becker Ventures defaulted on the $5 million deposit, Schrager's Northstar Capital partners renegotiated the bottom line.

"That's the deal that was made," Schrager said. "If we marketed it again we would have gotten more, but I'm interested in other things. We have a retained interest, and I'm moving on."

Mark Gordon of Sonnenblick-Gordon, a hotel marketer who was hired by Schrager to resell it, said, "It's a great opportunity for the buyer and seller. It will give the Hard Rock folks a flagship location in New York and allows the seller to sell at a good price so they can redeploy the capital."

The hotel will be part of the Sol Melia group.

At the end of last month, Schrager also concluded a sale/leaseback of The Clift in San Francisco to Divco West. The $71 million deal is expected to enable Schrager and Northstar to pull the hotel chain out of its bankruptcy court restructuring.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

Odd, Sol Melia is a resort brand with beach-type locations. Interesting to see how they play it.

[krulltime]

Double occupancy on selling block


July 9, 2004

The hotel market is buzzing these days--but not just with tourists.

Hoteliers are busy hanging "For Sale" signs on their doors. The Sheraton Russell Hotel and the Stanhope Park Hyatt are the latest properties up for grabs. Both boutiques, built in the 1920s, are located in exclusive residential neighborhoods, making them likely candidates to be converted into apartments, say industry sources.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Sheraton Russell, at East 37th Street and Park Avenue, retained real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels to market the property.

"The area (Murray Hill) is undergoing a renaissance," says Alan Tantleff, an executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle.

According to sources, the real estate firm also has been retained to find a buyer for the Stanhope, which is located across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue. Mr. Tantleff declined to comment.


Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

[krulltime]

Hotel Market Attracts High-Roller Investors


By Melissa Kress
July 13, 2004

NEW YORK CITY-With reports that two Manhattan hotels may be on the market, investor interest in the city is heating up.

According to Cheryl Boyer, director of the Hospitality and Leisure Practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the marketplace is rebounding and performance statistics support that claim. PwC statistics for the Manhattan hotel industry through May show that RevPAR increased to $174.33 in May from $161.37 in April. Additionally, that new figure was up almost $40, from $133.51, over May 2003's RevPAR. Furthermore, PwC reports that occupancy hit a high of 86.3% in May, a slight uptick from 86.1% in April and the highest occupancy figure since the fall of 2000.

Overall, PwC expects Manhattan hotel occupancy to be an estimated 82.2% and ADR to be $184.90, resulting in a RevPAR of $151.89 for the year-end 2004.

These numbers may explain why the Park Central New York Hotel and the Millenium Hilton are reported to be for sale. Although Boyer could not confirm if the hotels were officially on the market, she did say that the owners may be "testing the waters" and New York could see record-setting prices for quality assets. She adds that there was an attempted sale of the Park Central a few years ago.

"Investor interest is very high, particularly in New York," Boyer explains. "There has not been a significant amount of good quality assets on the market and fundamentals are very good right now."

Park Central is located at 870 Seventh Ave. at 56th Street and includes 935 guest rooms. The Millenium Hilton is located at 55 Church St. in the city's Financial District. It features 565 rooms, including 463 guest rooms and 102 suites.

The rumors of the hotels hitting the market follow the sale of the Paramount Hotel in Times Square to Lifestar Hotels LLC for $126.5 million, as GlobeSt.com reported last week. After a multi-million dollar renovation, it will be rebranded as the Hard Rock Hotel, New York. Other notable hotel deals in the city this year include the $23.1-million sale of the Gorham hotel at 136 W. 55th St. to BD Hotels; the $14.5-million sale of the leasehold interest in the Shoreham hotel at 33 W. 55th St. by Credit Suisse First Boston to an affiliate of Ark Investment Partners LP; and the renaming of the Chelsea Grand Hotel on 25th Street to Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan.


© 2004 by GlobeSt.com, LLC.

[krulltime]

NYPOST: Real Estate


By LOIS WEISS
July 14, 2004

The Blackstone Group is negotiating to buy the Millennium Hilton across from ground zero for around $200 million, Real Estate Finance & Investment reported.

The 565-room hotel was developed by MTA honcho Peter Kalikow at 55 Church St. and is currently owned by a venture of CDL Hotels, the same international company that owns the Millennium U.N. Hotel and the Millennium in Times Square.

The Hilton was shuttered on Sept. 11, 2001, and has only enjoyed a 60 to 70 percent occupancy rate since it was refurbished and reopened in May 2003. Among the amenities: 42-inch plasma-screen TVs, high-speed Internet access and a new fitness center with an indoor heated lap pool.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

Plaza hotel to be sold


August 13, 2004

A British luxury hotelier and Saudi prince are selling the Plaza hotel to an affiliate of El Ad Properties, which has developed several luxury condos in Manhattan.

U.K.-based Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said that Plaza Operating Partners, its joint venture with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will sell the five-star, money-losing Fifth Avenue hotel and an adjacent property for $675 million to CPS One, an affiliate of El Ad Properties. The deal is slated to be complete by the end of the year.

News of the deal sent shares of Millennium, the international hotel arm of Hong Leong Group Singapore, up sharply on the London index. Millennium has been hit hard by the decline in tourism worldwide following the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The sale price represents a considerable premium over the $325 million the partners paid for the Plaza in 1995.


Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

[Stern]

At one point or another wasn't the plaza to be torn down and replaced with a 50 storey building? I don't know if this was under the ownership of Donald Trump or not. It would be ashame if that had happened, although I would not object to a modern glass addition above, im sure however in this day and age there would be a public outcry.

[kliq6]

Trump just wanted to convert some of it to Condos, i think the Hotel Pennsylavania or Roosevelt Hotel may be torn down for new toweers, as other posts on this site have mentioned

[ZippyTheChimp]

The Plaza is a NYC and national landmark.

[TonyO]

NYSun

Hotel Capacity Soars in New York, as Downtown Surges

BY JULIE SATOW - Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 21, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/10829

The number of hotel rooms in Manhattan has swelled by 5,000 in the past five years and is expected to grow by another 1,500 in the next year.

The growth contradicts some press reports and union claims that have depicted a dwindling hotel room inventory that could leave the city's booming tourism industry stranded.

According to the recently released Manhattan lodging report from the consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers, 1,479 net new hotel rooms will be created by year-end 2006 and 2,728 net new hotel rooms are to open in the near future, mostly by year-end 2007.

"Net-net, over the next several years years, as the West Side opens up and downtown comes back, I guarantee there are going to be more hotel rooms than there are today," the chief executive officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Arthur Adler, said.

"There is a growing supply of hotel rooms, the data speaks for itself," Bjorn Hanson, who authored the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, told The New York Sun. He said the bulk of the hotels that are in the planning stages now should be complete by 2007.

With a red-hot residential market, a number of hotels in prime neighborhoods have been converted into apartments. Countering that trend, however, is a booming hotel market that has seen a number of boutique hotels cropping up in neighborhoods such as TriBeCa, Harlem, and the Lower East Side, where hotels were scarce, experts say. There are also some larger hotels on the horizon, including the 1,500-room hotel scheduled to open at the expanded Jacob K. Javits Center on the West Side.

A residential premium is driving the conversion trend. Of the 17 hotels sold last year, seven were converted for residential use, including the Empire Hotel, the InterContinental Central Park South, and the Mayflower Hotel.

While the average sale price of a hotel is less than $1,000 a square foot, the sale price for a luxury apartment in the fourth quarter of 2004 was $1,364, according to data released by Douglas Elliman.

While these hotels are being converted, the flip side is the development of new hotels.

"The combination of the strengthening economy, weak U.S. dollar, and the reduction in the number of hotel rooms has made New York attractive to many hotel developers," Mr. Hanson said. Because residential developers are snatching up many of the larger, expensive properties, hoteliers are looking at alternative areas. Boutique hotels that have developed a trendy following after their openings last year include the Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District and Andre Balazs's hip backpacker's hostel, the QT. Soon to follow is the first kosher boutique hotel with a jazz lounge and whirlpool tubs, the Blue Moon Hotel at 100 Orchard St., scheduled for a May opening.

Brooklyn is also seeing growth, with work under way on a 280-room expansion of the Brooklyn Marriott hotel that opened in Downtown Brooklyn in 1998, and what has been described as a luxury boutique hotel expected to open this year on Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights.

"New York is also seeing a small number of limited service hotels that offer a high value for visitors who don't need all the amenities such as a large lobby and concierge services," Mr. Hanson said. These include hotels such as the Four Points Soho Village and the Courtyard by Marriott hotel, which are both opening in January.

The new crop of hotels is a far cry from the large luxury hotels they are mostly replacing, such as the Plaza and the InterContinental Central Park South. These hotels employed an average of 150 workers for 100 rooms, while the boutiques usually maintain 50 to 75 employees for 100 rooms. The limited-service hotels have only 35 to 50 employees for 100 rooms, according to Mr. Hanson.

So despite an increase of net hotel rooms, there could still be a job loss for hotel workers, Mr. Hanson said. "The luxury hotels that are closing have, on average, 1.5 workers for every room, and the hotels that are opening have, on average, .75 employees per room, so the number of jobs created are greatly surpassed by the number of jobs being lost."

A labor organization that represents hotel workers, the New York Hotel Trades Council, has argued that it is steadily losing jobs because of the shrinking number of hotels in New York. A spokesman for the union, John Turchiano, said it has lost 1,076 jobs in 2004, largely because of hotel conversions to residential buildings. A recent New York Times article about the conversions was headlined "If They Come, Where Will They Sleep?" and claimed "the industry is shrinking."

"Gee, what happened to the 5A Clarion, the Melrose, the Gramercy Park, the Delmonico, the Helmsley, and the Windsor, all of which were sold for the purposes of condominium conversions, not to mention the St. Regis, which converted two full floors to condominiums?" a union spokesman, John Turchiano, said, listing hotels not mentioned in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report. "I think Mark Twain was right. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

The president of the Hotel Association of New York City, Joseph Spinnato, said he was not surprised by data showing an increasing number of hotel rooms in the coming years.

"We have heard from various developers and companies that there are hotels in the works," said Mr. Spinnato, whose group represents 200 hotels. "It is just the market, which dictates that if hotel rooms are lost new rooms must come on board."

[krulltime]

"Intelligencer: April 18–25"

Plaza Saved!
Condo-mania strikes more hotels.


The embattled owners of the Plaza Hotel rolled back their condo plans last week, but more condo-ized hotels are on the way. The Sutton on East 56th Street, bought by Alchemy Properties last month for $52.25 million, will shutter in June so it can resurface later this year as a condo building. Alchemy president Kenneth Horn says a conversion has been in the cards for the Sutton since its renovation in the nineties, but the market fell and plans were put on hold. Meanwhile, twelve blocks south of the Sutton, the Millennium U.N. Plaza hotel is rumored to be turning 200 of its rooms into condos as well. Paul Underhill of Millennium confirms it’s been approached by developers. John Turchiano of the New York Hotel and Motel Trade Council union is still mad about the trend. “It’s a shame that so-called developers can’t go out and develop.”

—S. Jhoanna Robledo

Copyright © 2004 , New York Metro, Llc.

[krulltime]

Insiders Debate Condo Hotel Market


By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: April 16, 2005 10:41pm

NEW YORK CITY-“Some of the things that scare me include the condo hotel concept,” said Robert Stern, managing director, Perry Real Estate Partners. “I don’t understand it from a buyer’s perspective.” He said it is rife with conflict and governance issues and says there could be a “catastrophe“ ahead. “As an investor, I’m looking to protect my downside. I like to see a proliferance of new concepts.” On the upside, he said he “hopes the government would try to incentivize new development as opposed to keeping substandard development on the market.

The condo hotel trend, branding and the image of the timeshare market were discussed as part of a NYCREW panel discussion dealing with lodging as the first part of its Industry Spotlight Series.

Irene Hoek, vice president, real estate investment for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., called the industry a “quickly evolving one.” She said Starwood in not “entirely comfortable with the hotel/condo concept.“ Nicholas Mecca, managing director, structure department, resort finance division for Textron Financial Corp., said the timeshare industry has “changed so much in the past 10 years.” He said one of the key issues has been the impact of the brands on the marketplace.

Martin Heilmann, relationship manager, GE Commercial Finance, Real Estate, says the timeshare is “an operating company, not a real estate development company. Marketing drives the business. The entrance of the brands brought a lot of credibility to the industry. If you say Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, it makes the sales process easier.” Kimberly Moffitt Hehir, vice president, strategic planning for Leading Hotels of the Word Ltd., said the company will be launching a resident’s club membership in June. She said the company wanted to insure that it can have a sustainable product, not something that simply a trend.

On Friday, Elad Properties, owner of the Plaza and the leadership of Local 6 reached an agreement that preserves and guarantees jobs for approximately 350 hotel employees – more than double the number previously called for - and that preserves the Plaza’s public spaces, including the Grand Ballroom and Palm Court, as well as their current uses. As a result of the agreement, The Plaza will retain approximately 350 hotel rooms- also more than double the initially projected number. Renovations will begin on April 30. The restored Plaza is slated to open in late 2006 as a five-star hotel with luxury condominiums residences and high-end retail space.


© 2005 by GlobeSt.com All rights reserved.

[krulltime]

Four Seasons Is Refinanced for $100M


http://www.globest.com/newspics/nyc_fourseasons.jpg
Four Seasons

By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: April 21, 2005

financing for the 520,061-sf five-star hotel. Situated on 1.6 acres at 57 East 57th St., the Four Seasons has 368 rooms.

GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp.’s hospitality industry division arranged and underwrote the transaction. Bruce Lowrey, senior vice president, hospitality industry division, explains the reason for the financing at this time. “Savvy Borrowers recognize that its good business to take advantage of low cost debt.”

Hotel amenities include the 60-seat Fifty Seven Fifty Seven restaurant, an 80-seat bar, a lounge and a full-service, 5,000-sf spa and fitness center, which includes a sauna, whirlpool and nine treatment rooms. Additional amenities include a business center, a clothing store and 9,584 sf of meeting space over nine rooms.

GMACCM is a wholly owned subsidiary of GMAC Commercial Holding Corp. and has a servicing portfolio of more than $253 billion The firm also has specialized lending units focused on healthcare, hospitality and construction lending.

The division also worked on a four-property hotel portfolio that was refinanced for $103.2 million. The hotels involved are in North Carolina, Georgia, California and Las Vegas.


© 2005 by GlobeSt.com All rights reserved.

[krulltime]

April 24, 2005

City settles with delinquent hotels


The city has begun collecting settlements from extended-stay hotels, corporate housing and bed-and-breakfast businesses over their failure to pay the hotel room occupancy tax.

Metro-Home is among the first extended-stay businesses to settle and carry a new Web posting, stating that as of June 1 its rooms will be subject to the New York City hotel room tax of 5% per night and $2 per room per night.


COPYRIGHT 2005 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

[krulltime]

April 2005

Shrinking Hotel supply fuels development plans


By Alison Gregor

As developers cash in on lucrative hotel-to-condo conversions, the number of hotel rooms in New York is shrinking, even as hotel occupancy in the city is likely to peak in 2005 after several slow years.

In order to make up for the shortfall, developers are looking to the rezoned Hudson Yards area as a location for new hotel construction, simply due to a lack of alternative development sites.

The slow leak of hotel rooms from Manhattan doesn't yet have hotel industry experts running around like Chicken Little, but they warn that there could be high-season shortages.

At the end of 2004, there were 62,000 hotel rooms in Manhattan, and about 70,000 in all of New York City. But in 2004, about 1,305 rooms were lost due to five hotel closures, while only 452 rooms were added due to the addition of four hotels, says John A. Fox, senior vice president at PKF Consulting, which specializes in hotels.

"While the loss of hotel rooms is not insignificant, it's not at the level where we've got a dire shortage," Fox says.

Fox's statistics don't include condo conversions, which would up the number considerably. Legendary hotels like the Pierre and Carlyle have been selling apartments for years, while The Plaza, Stanhope, St. Regis and Sheraton Russell hotels have become the latest adherents to the trend.

The old Windsor, Empire and Gramercy Park hotels are reportedly converting rooms to condominiums. The Inter-Continental Central Park South, Regent Wall Street, Barbizon and Olcott all are transforming multitudes of hotel rooms into apartments.

The Mayflower was torn down completely to make way for highrise luxury apartments. And there have been reports of a plethora of other hotel conversions, though at least one report was erroneous.

The Plaza Athenee has no plans to convert any of its hotel rooms, Fox says.

Yet Manhattan may not be completely devoid of new hotel sites. Some are promoting the Hudson Yards area on the island's far West Side.

Hotel industry experts say there's no question hotels will go up in the Hudson Yards area, but the unknown is when.

"That area is under-hoteled, in general," says Art Adler, managing director at commercial brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle. "The question is when should hotels be developed over there. Should it be now? Or should it be when there's more commercial development over there?"

"Usually, hotels follow, not lead, commercial and tourism development," he says.

In the Hudson Yards area, a new hotel with about 1,500 rooms has been zoned as part of the expansion of the Javits Convention Center. If developed, it would be a destination in itself, much like the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, Adler says.

But Fox says the Javits hotel was not a done deal and no developer had been selected.

"I don't think you're going to get somebody to come in and do that without some kind of incentives," he says.

Also in the Hudson Yards area, there is potential for construction of a hotel as part of the new Penn Station redevelopment, Adler says.

Currently under construction in Hudson Yards is a 188-room Holiday Inn Express at 29th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, which is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2006, says Monica Smith, corporate communications coordinator for InterContinental Hotels Group.

Rumored to be in the works are a Holiday Inn at 39th Street and Eighth Avenue and a Wingate Inn on 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Most industry experts feel that the Hudson Yards area might be appropriate for smaller discount hotels.

"If you're coming to New York, you want to stay on Eleventh Avenue?" asked Eric Anton, senior managing director at Eastern Consolidated Properties, a commercial investment banking firm. "Not really. Unless maybe you're driving in, and it's convenient. I could see a lot of smaller projects, like Motel 6's or Howard Johnson-type hotels" in Hudson Yards.

Adler agreed, predicting the development of a couple hotels to serve spillover from Times Square during high season, which is the fall, holidays and spring.

"A Holiday Inn, for example, that's priced well would do very well, because certain elements of demand aren't as price sensitive," he says. "You're not going to see luxury hotel development there.


Copyright © 2003-2005 The Real Deal.

[TLOZ Link5]

On weekends, on my taxi ride back from ir de copas, I normally go up Central Park West to check on the Mayflower. The demolition is down to about the fifth floor, and the empty lot in back is almost fully excavated. The site really is immense.

[Derek2k3]

Currently under construction in Hudson Yards is a 188-room Holiday Inn Express at 29th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, which is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2006, says Monica Smith, corporate communications coordinator for InterContinental Hotels Group.


Holiday Inn Express
232 West 29th Street
11 stories 118 feet
Gene Kaufman Architect
Dev-Brisam Management, LLC
Commercial Hotel
188 units 52,800 Sq. Ft.
Under Construction 2005-3rd quarter 2006

http://www.pbase.com/archit_kderek2k3/image/42972917.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/archit_kderek2k3/image/42972916/original.jpg

[Derek2k3]

Rumored to be in the works are a Holiday Inn at 39th Street and Eighth Avenue and a Wingate Inn on 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Wingate Inn
233-235 West 35th Street
18 stories 183 feet
Peter F. Poon
Dev-Ocean King LLC
Commercial Hotel
92 units 39,113 Sq. Ft.
Under Construction January 2005-Spring 2006

http://www.hoteldesigns.co.uk/industrynews/images/uploads/20_01_05_Wingate_Inn.jpg

WINGATE INN HOTEL BREAKS GROUND IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN

http://www.cendant.com/media/pr/press_release.cgi/Hospitality+Services/11705

PARSIPPANY, N.J. 01-13-2005 -- Wingate Inns International announced today that ground was broken for the first Wingate Inn hotel in Manhattan, a $20 million, 17-floor structure to be built at 233-235 West 35th St., between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

Located one block north of Madison Square Garden, the 92-room hotel will feature two top-floor suites and a separate restaurant that will provide guests with room service. Owned by Staten Island restaurateurs Lisa and Simon Lou, the Wingate Inn hotel is expected to open in the spring of 2006.

Wingate Inn President Keith Pierce said the new Wingate Inn hotel and its all-inclusive pricing will be a "great relief for New York City business travelers, who are used to paying high fees for amenities and services."

The all-inclusive pricing policy includes wireless and wired Internet access, deluxe continental breakfast, local calls, long-distance access, faxes and photocopies, all included in the room rate.

Wingate Inn rooms feature a large desk, on-demand movies, Internet-enabled TV, cordless phone, two-line speakerphone with conference calling and voice mail, safe, coffee maker, hair dryer, iron and ironing boards. Hotel facilities include a boardroom, meeting room, fitness room and 24-hour, self-service business center.

While focused on serving the needs of business travelers, Wingate Inn hotels also cater to leisure travelers by offering free accommodations for children 18 and under when accompanied by an adult family member.

Wingate Inn hotels also offer a 100 percent guest satisfaction guarantee: When problems are brought to the attention of hotel management during a stay but cannot be resolved immediately, guests will receive a refund for that night.

The Wingate Inn chain gained the highest ranking in the midscale, limited-service segment by J.D. Power and Associates in its 2004 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index StudySM. The chain also was recognized in the 2004 Zagat Survey of Top U.S. Hotels, Resorts and Spas guide.

[NewYorkYankee]

Why the mad face Derek?

[Derek2k3]

the design upset my tummy...

[krulltime]

4 SEASONS, PIERRE PART

By BRADEN KEIL

May 18, 2005 -- Another landmark hotel is feeling the crunch of post-9/11 losses.

After 4 years of annual losses in the millions of dollars, Four Seasons Hotels Inc. is being released from its management contract with The Pierre hotel, sources said. The Canadian-based hotel company is expected to be replaced by the Taj Group, a luxury hotel management company based in India.

The Taj Group reportedly raised $150 million to fund overseas acquisitions with New York as its first target.


Copyright 2005 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[TonyO]

NYSun
5/26/05

Future Looks Bright for City Hotel Industry

Last Friday, thousands of people waited in line to buy memorabilia from the famed Plaza Hotel, most of which is being converted into residential condominiums, resulting in a loss of 807 hotel rooms. During the past three years, more than 3,000 hotel rooms in the city have been lost due to conversion to condominiums. However, since 9/11, 11 new hotels, with 2,358 rooms, have been added, the largest being the 45-story, 863-room Westin New York in Times Square.

During the taping of my television show last week, I had the opportunity to ask six industry leaders their views of the hotel market.

"The best and highest value use for a hotel is to convert to residential condominiums, nevertheless many people are interested in developing hotels in New York City," the managing director of Starwood Capital Group, Jeffrey Eisenberg, said.

Richard Born, principal of BD Hotels, which owns and operates 17 hotels in the city, is bullish on New York: His company is developing three new hotels in Manhattan. "In 2001, the industry was devastated, yet today, in many aspects the business has never been better," he said.

Sam Chang, president of MCSAM Hotels, said, "I'm building five hotels below Canal Street and plan to build at least six in Brooklyn and Queens over the next two years."

"Everyone from around the globe wants to come to New York City and it is helping the hospitality industry," Mr. Eisenberg said.

***

The good news is that not everyone who is purchasing a hotel is planning to convert it into residential condominiums. In January, Highgate Holdings and a Goldman Sachs-sponsored fund paid $200 million for the 935-room Park Central Hotel at Seventh Avenue between 55th and 56th streets. Mark Gordon, the managing director of Sonnenblick Goldman, which sold the Park Central, said "the hotel had the right dynamics for conversion into a residential condominium, yet the buyer decided it was better to maintain the property as a hotel."

Next week, Highgate Holdings and the Carlyle Group will be closing on the $34 million purchase of the leasehold for the 300-room Crowne Plaza United Nations at 42nd and Second Avenue, which is owned by InterContinental Hotels Group. InterContinental has 35 years remaining on the lease. It is believed that Highgate will continue to operate the property as a hotel.

Last year, Intercontinental Group sold the 27-story, 208-room Intercontinental CPS to Anbau Enterprises, which is converting the property into 65 cooperative residential apartments, selling for more than $1,600 per square foot.

The owner of the nearby, 605-room Essex House at 160 Central Park South have reportedly retained Sonnenblick Goldman to market the property. It could fetch close to $450 million. A number of years ago, part of the hotel was converted into condo apartments. The conventional wisdom is the property will continue to be operated as a hotel.

Another property up for sale that will probably remain a hotel is the famed Algonquin at 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

***

Last week it was announced that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a partner with Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in the sale of the Plaza Hotel to Elad Properties last year, is interested to purchasing the 348-room hotel in the renovated facility in 2006.The hotel will have 188 rooms and 160 condominium hotel rooms. The condominium rooms will be sold to investors who will be allowed to use them for a maximum of four months a year. During the balance of the year, the hotel will operate the rooms and the revenues will be shared. The Trump International Hotel & Tower at One Central Park West has the same setup.

***

A few months ago, the City Council, at the urging of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, briefly considered limiting conversion of hotels with more than 300 rooms to residential condominiums. The president of the union, Peter Ward, is continuing to push for legislation. "The hospitality industry has a problem; it allows a developer to purchase a property with extraordinary value for condominium development which can be delivered without tenants," he said. "We will go toe to toe with any developer to save hotels from conversion."

A number of developers, including Richard Born, who has three new hotel projects in Manhattan, question the need for legislation. One hotel owner said: "The proposed bill in the City Council does not go to the essence of the constitutional legality of the action. The bill results in no compensation to hotel owners and is thus clearly a 'taking' without just, or any, compensation."

***

The general manager of the Omni Berkshire Hotel and regional manager for Omni Hotels, Ofer Nissenbaum, said, "This is the first time that it has been affordable and a bargain to visit New York City. The prices Europeans are paying are inexpensive as compared to hotels in Europe."

Travelers are spending close to $800 a night for a room at the Mandarin Orient at the Time Warner Center. Occupancy rates in city hotels are more than 90%. Sam Chang's 4-year-old Howard Johnson on Houston Street in the Bowery has had 99% occupancy over the past five months at room rates averaging $160 per night.

Even though hotel occupancy and room rates are nearing all-time highs, profits are lower. Real estate taxes have increased by close to 300%; energy, employee benefits, and general insurance costs have nearly doubled.

"Immediately after 9/11 only a handful of lenders were interested in lending for hotels. said Frank Anderson, a senior vice president at HSH Nordbank. "Today, hotel lenders have increased by 500%, offering funds for developments all over the city."

Sam Chang is planning to build name-brand franchise hotels with limited service throughout the city. In addition to the five hotels he has under construction east of Canal Street, he is developing four in Brooklyn, five in Queens, a boutique hotel in Union Square, and a budget hotel on 35th Street and Fifth Avenue. With the exception of the Union Square hotel, all will offer travelers affordable room rates ranging from $100 to $200 per night.

Mr. Born is developing an 83-room boutique hotel on Greenwich Street in TriBeCa, a 140-room boutique on Third Street and the Bowery, and a budget 300-room hotel with very small rooms on 51st and Second Avenue.

"Looking forward in the next 10 to 15 years, I expect large convention hotels to open near the Javits Center and on Hudson Boulevard in the rezoned Hudson Yards," Mr. Born said.

Due to a combination of factors including the cost of land and construction, it is difficult today to build a hotel larger than 200 rooms. The cost of the Mandarin Orient was over $1 million a room. Nonetheless, over the next two years, more than 30 hotels will open across the city.

The future is bright for the hospitality industry in New York City.

[billyblancoNYC]

Hmm...80-90% occupancy, avg. close to $200 per night, for a 150-300 sq. ft. box...sounds pretty good to me.

[pianoman11686]

A million dollars per room? That's extravagant. I guess that's what you get for setting up shop in the most expensive corporate headquarters built to date. Anyways, check out this other optimistic article from Forbes.com, which also rates the top ten business hotels in New York (some might surprise you):

Travel
Best Business Hotels In New York City
Sophia Banay

There are more than 200 hotels in Manhattan. Uptown or downtown, hip or classic, large or small, for a few hundred dollars per night or many thousands. The trick is finding the right one for your next business trip.

Business travel, dampened nationwide by a sluggish economy and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is back. Between 1998 and 2003, domestic business and convention travel plunged 14%, according to a report issued earlier this month by the Travel Industry Association of America, the National Business Travel Association and the Institute of Business Travel. 2004 saw a 4% increase in business and convention travel, and the report concluded by projecting strong growth in the next several years.

In Manhattan, this increase is a welcome change for the city's beleaguered hospitality industry. NYC & Company, New York's official tourism marketing organization, calculated that in 2003 (the last year for which data are available) domestic business travelers to New York spent $4.1 billion. And as other factors help the business travel recovery, spending will increase.

"Coming into 2005, business travel looked like it would be up 4.5% to 5%, with key business centers, obviously including New York, outperforming the average," says Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a Philadelphia-based firm that tracks trends in the business travel industry. But Mitchell says the fare fights between low-fare carriers like JetBlue (nasdaq: JBLU - news - people ) and industry mainstays such as Delta (nyse: DAL - news - people ), Continental (nyse: CAL - news - people ) and US Airways are a further stimulus to business travel.

Sean Hennessey, who runs a New York-based hotel consultancy called Lodging Investment Advisors, is expecting you. "In 2002 and 2003," he says, "the best nights of the week for New York hotels were Friday and Saturday," which indicates that leisure travel dominated the hotel market. In 2004, Hennessey noticed that occupancy rates for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were way up--hotels were packed midweek. "That was a telltale sign for the turnaround in New York City business travel," he says.

Hotels have noticed the surge too, and Hennessey points out that the best business hotels are cutting back on the discounted rates normally available online. "They're saving their inventory for high-paying commercial travelers," he explains.

And businesses seem perfectly willing to play along. In recent years, commercial and investment banks had to cut back on nonessential travel like training meetings and group trips. With the economy recovering, companies are reintroducing these trips and paying top dollar for them.

One hotel that made our list, the Hotel Gansevoort, was designed with big business events in mind. The hotel's rooftop lounge features a 45-foot heated outdoor pool in which you can listen to underwater music--the first pool of its kind in Manhattan. Next door, the event loft's wall-to-wall windows, landscaped roof and garden, and 360-degree views are a great venue for product launches, and everyone from Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) to WebMD (nasdaq: HLTH - news - people ) to Abercrombie & Fitch (nyse: ANF - news - people ) has celebrated here.

New York's hotels are capitalizing on another business travel trend. According to Tom Downing, general manager at Trump International, the entertainment executives that the hotel accommodates are staying longer and bringing their families. "We have people coming from L.A.," Downing explains, who plan their trip around a weekend to make the most of their time. "They tend to be here for a few days, and our rooms," with huge walk-in closets and floor-to-ceiling windows, "are conducive to long-term stays."

For these family-minded executives, Trump International offers a Kids on Central Park Package that includes a night in a two-bedroom suite, a fridge pre-stocked with kid-friendly treats, and milk and cookies at turndown.

When the St. Regis, which is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts (nyse: HOT - news - people ), opened in 1907, suite bathrooms were the height of luxury. Today, New York business travelers expect Wi-Fi, 24/7 tech support and audiovisual equipment in their conference rooms and suites. In the very best business hotels, the distinction between the best and the second-best may be as subtle as the thread count on the sheets. But Frette not. We devised a comprehensive point system for our evaluations and scoured the city from Battery Park to Museum Mile.

To judge the best hotels, we assigned points for the categories most important to business travelers: Internet access (1 point for wireless hot spots, 1 more for in-room high-speed access), quality of business center (1 for open 24/7, 1 for outstanding service), quality of restaurant (1 for a celebrity chef, 1 for a Zagat rating), and meeting or event spaces (1 if available, 1 if Internet-ready). Depending on these factors and the hotel's regular clientele, we assigned an industry and awarded additional points based on accessibility to clients. Finally, we tallied up each hotel's point value.

View the slide show of our favorite New York City business hotels.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/realestate/2005/03/23/cx_sb_0324featslide.html',800,600

[krulltime]

Budget hotels home in on West Side
Small inns sprout in rezoned Hudson Yards


Published on July 11, 2005

With three hotels in the works, a new hub for affordable hospitality is emerging west of Seventh Avenue, in the rezoned Hudson Yards neighborhood.

An 80-room Comfort Inn is scheduled to open by the end of the year at 305 W. 39th St. A few blocks south, at 235 W. 35th St., a 92-room Wingate Inn will welcome its first guests in the second quarter of next year. A 40-room Howard Johnson under construction at 449 W. 36th St. is slated to open in January 2007.

"This is part of a trend of small hotels opening up nontraditional hotel areas," says Kirk Reed, a PricewaterhouseCoopers analyst, noting that several such properties have opened in Hudson Yards in recent years.

The 20-story Comfort Inn is being developed by M&R Hospitality, which bought the site last July for $2.6 million, according to public records. It will be the third Comfort Inn in Manhattan, a spokeswoman says.

The Wingate Inn is owned by Ocean King. The 17-story hotel--which has two penthouse suites, a fitness center and boardrooms for business meetings--is the first Wingate Inn in Manhattan, according to Ocean King President Lisa Lou. The firm bought the property in October 2003 for $2.6 million.

The Lam Group is developing the 10-story Howard Johnson as part of its strategy to build 1,200 hotel rooms in New York City over the next two years. President John Lam says he will begin construction in September on two properties in downtown Brooklyn: a 300-room Sheraton and a 180-room Hilton Garden. Mr. Lam bought the Hudson Yards property in 2003 for $950,000, public records show.


--Julie Satow

COPYRIGHT 2005 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

[lofter1]

Up until the early 80s this building on the SE corner of Canal & Broadway had a terrific 24 hour diner on the street level overlooking that intersection -- very 40s retro with booths and stools at the counter. Great egg creams and good old burgers. Late nites were always busy with club goers, taxi drivers and other people out and about.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/

One More Hotel for Tribeca

Tribeca may soon be getting another hotel-this one on the bustling southeast corner of Broadway and Canal Street.

Owners of 416 Broadway are currently seeking city approval to convert the nine-story loft building into a 100-room Ramada Inn.

"We're excited about it," said Jeremy Chan, son of the building' owner, Alice Chan, and the hotel's project manager. The family also owns a boutique hotel at Canal and Lafayette Streets. Chan said there is always room for more.

"The Holiday Inn on Lafayette is always booked," he said. "And not to be negative, but they are pretty run down."

The Renaissance Revival-style building, erected in 1899, is in the Tribeca East Historical District. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission gave its approval last month for plans to renovate the facade and clear out the current ground-floor retail stands. Replacing them will be a glass storefront that will house the hotel's lobby and restaurant.

"We would like it to be a little bit better than what Ramada is calling for, a little more upscale," said Raymond Chan, the project's architect. He said the plan is to begin converting the building in the fall.

There are currently more than a half-dozen businesses located on the building's upper floors, including a tattoo artist, an architect, and the offices of a rock 'n' roll magazine.

Tenants, who did not want to be identified, told the Trib that their leases were not renewed last year and that they were aware that change was coming to the building. They did not know, however, that their spaces are to become hotel rooms.

"I'd probably book a room here sometime," said one tenant. "If it was cheap."

There is now a terrific Bulgarian tavern (the only one in NYC!!) in the building:

MEHANATA aka 416 B.C.

416 Broadway, Manhattan 625-0981
Open Thursday to Saturday nights
Check out their great website:

www.mehanata.com (http://www.mehanata.com/)

Perched on a promontory overlooking the hubbub of Canal Street, 416 B.C. is Manhattan's only Bulgarian restaurant. Among lots of great menu items, the kavarma omelet stands out—an enormous egg-wrapper that, crepelike, enfolds the national spin on goulash, an oily pork stew sweetened with plenty of peppers and onions. Also superlative is kyopolu, a complex puree of roasted vegetables, including eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes, parsley, and plenty of garlic. - Robert Sietsema (Village Voice)

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Another major hotel conversion to condominiums 12-JUL-05

Berwind Property Group, which is based in Philadelphia, is converting the former Barbizon Hotel at 140 East 63rd Street to about 65 condominium apartments, according to plans recently filed with the New York State Attorney General's office.

Through its subsidiary, The Melrose Hotel Company, Berwind had acquired the property in 2002 and spent about $40 million in renovating it and converting it to the Melrose Hotel. The hotel closed recently, but still has some existing tenants.

The 23-story hotel, designed by Murgatroyd & Ogden, opened in 1927 as the Barbizon Hotel for Women, where no men were permitted above the lobby floor. It gained fame in the 1950s and 1960s when its residents included Grace Kelly, Candice Bergen, Ali McGraw and Liza Minelli. Its rooms were small but it had a nice large lobby and some splendid meeting rooms at the top. Men were finally admitted as guests in 1981.

In their fine book, “The A.I.A. Guide to New York City Architecture, Third Edition,” (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), Norton White and Elliot Willensky described the building as “A romantic, neo-Gothic tawny brick charmer, lovingly restored in the 1980s.”

The impressive Barbizon becomes the latest of the city’s major hotels to convert all or many of their rooms to condominium apartments. Recently, the Plaza and St. Regis Hotels on Fifth Avenue announced plans to convert some of their rooms while the Empire Hotel on Broadway and 63rd Street is undergoing a full conversion.

Although there are numerous taller buildings nearby along Third Avenue, the Barbizon, which is located on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street, has long been a prominent landmark in the 60’s west of Third Avenue.

[pianoman11686]

Never read anything here about this one:

Hampton Inn Manhattan/Seaport - Financial District
320 Pearl Street/65 rooms/9 stories
Opening: October 30, 2005

From http://hamptoninn.com:

The newly constructed Hampton Inn Financial District is located in Southern Manhattan's Seaport area. Hotel is located on Pearl Street between Peck Slip and Frankfurt Streets, directly beside the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The hotel is surrounded by some of the city's best shopping, restaurants, and tourist attractions while being located in the heart of the nation's heartbeat of finance and commerce. Housed in a newly constructed nine-story mid-rise building boasting some of the areas most significant historic architecture with all the qualities and features of the nationally recognized Hampton Inn brand with the design elements of a classic New York style hotel. The 65-room Hampton Inn features state of the art guestroom furnishings and a beautifully designed common area with terrace. The Hampton Inn is located near many of New York City's premier shopping areas and historical sites. Within walking distance to PACE University, City Hall, Chinatown, Little Italy, SOHO, Tribeca, Battery Park City and many other fine villages of New York City. In addition, the hotel is located across the street from the local bus stop and just 2 blocks south of a major subway hub connecting you to the entire city. Places like the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and so much more are just minutes away.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Converter of Stanhope Hotel wants a rooftop addition 19-JUL-05

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a hearing July 26 on an application by Extell Management, the developer of two towers on Broadway at 100th Street, one of which was the scene of a building collapse last week, to build a rooftop addition at 995 Fifth Avenue.

The building is the former Stanhope Hotel, which has been operated in recent years as a Park Hyatt hotel, and Extell recently began interior demolition in the building.

The building was designed by Rosario Candela, the noted luxury apartment building architect, in 1925-6.

The application also is seeking permission to construct planting beds at the sidewalk, where a popular sidewalk café long existed directly across Fifth Avenue from the south wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The building is located on the southeast corner at 81st Street. It had 185 hotel rooms and the conversion will result in about 36 apartments.

[BrooklynRider]

The conversion of hotels is really quite alarming with no new hotels on the horizon. I guess this helps Vornado push a replacement for the old Pennsylvania forward and also boosts the chances of a new hotel near the Moynihan Station. But, these classic and little gems are disappearing quick.

[londonlawyer]

It is bizarre that no new hotels are planned in prime areas. (Do people really want to stay on 10th Ave. and 30th Street?)

[pianoman11686]

A New Hotel, Near All Needs: L.I.E., Airport, Cemetery

By JEFF VANDAM

Published: July 24, 2005

The newest Comfort Inn and Suites hotel in New York, just opened for business, is a handsome four-story structure with tan brick, white-columned balconies and oversized semicircular windows. The hotel is covered in red, white and blue flags that declare its opening and point out toward the road with pride.

The road, Maurice Avenue, in Maspeth, Queens, forms the eastern border of Mount Zion Cemetery, which the hotel overlooks. Far in the distance, the spires of Midtown Manhattan rise above the endless rows of headstones and graves. A block away is the rumbling of the Long Island Expressway, and the hotel's neighbors include a mason supply shop and a vendor of electric motors.

Not exactly the logical first stop for visitors to New York, a sentiment expressed by some residents of the modest, semiattached homes on the hill behind the hotel.

"As a guest, if you don't know your way around, I don't know what you're going to do," said Judith Namorato, who was spending a recent afternoon tending to her yard on 61st Street, just behind the Comfort Inn. "I can't see the point of staying here if you're going to go into the city."

But Danny Mehta, manager and part owner of the hotel, said its location had already proved convenient for local business travelers. "It's easy in and out from the L.I.E.," he said, "and La Guardia Airport is almost three miles away."

For the Namoratos, the hotel seemed a little too close at one point. When it opened last month, its rooftop lights shone directly into their living room. "It was like Luna Park up here," said Mrs. Namorato's husband, Joseph. But after a few neighbors complained, the lights were quickly moved.

Other residents have called Community Board 5, upset that their view of Manhattan has been blocked by the hotel. "But as far as we know," said Gary Giordano, the board's district manager, "this is all legal and can be done without any variance. It's zoned properly to allow that."

Another concern was the fear that a lodging in a relatively remote location could become a "hot sheet" motel. "One is always suspicious of that," Mr. Giordano said.

But Mr. Mehta was quick to dismiss those concerns.

"This is the best hotel," he said. "It's not a short-stay hotel. The way we designed the facility, it's all corporate and family business."

Indeed, that same afternoon, a family in a minivan pulled up to the entrance and began unloading luggage. And despite her concerns, Ms. Namorato couldn't resist taking a peek inside the lobby the other day.

"It's beautiful," she said.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Pictures from the hotel's website:

http://www.choicehotels.com/hotelphotos/NY235A1.JPG

http://www.choicehotels.com/hotelphotos/NY235A2.JPG

[Fabrizio]

Breathtakingly ugly. They should be fined.

[krulltime]

The conversion of hotels is really quite alarming with no new hotels on the horizon.


Conversions spur new hotels
But developers move outside Midtown corridor; a short-term dip


By Lisa Fickenscher
Published on July 25, 2005

Dire predictions were made over the past few months as the drama at the Plaza Hotel played out. If vulture developers, eager to turn hotels into condos, could buy the historic Plaza, what hotel wasn't vulnerable?

Many developers, however, view the conversions as an opportunity to add to the city's inventory of 70,000 rooms.

"As long as rooms are being taken off the market, it fuels the fire to build more," says William Walther, president of G. Holdings Corp., which is completing its third hotel in the city and is planning a fourth.

A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers identifies at least 35 projects at various stages of development that will add 6,047 new rooms. A similar study by Smith Travel Research comes up with 69 projects and 9,675. In addition, Crain's New York Business estimates that other developers not accounted for in those studies plan at least another 1,800 units.

The number of available rooms may drop slightly in the short term, though, largely because about 3,000 have been or will soon be turned into condos. This year, New York City will have a net loss of 294 keys, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

But most industry experts don't expect the attrition to last.


Some buyers not converting


To begin with, not all hotels being sold are being converted to residential use.

The Park Central and Paramount were bought last year by investors interested in keeping them as hotels, as was the Crowne Plaza at the United Nations last month.

"With the closure of so many rooms, the buyers [of those hotels] concluded that it made sense to keep the properties as hotels," says Mark Gordon, managing director of real estate investment firm Sonnenblick-Goldman Co., which was the adviser involved in the sales.


Only a rumor


Even hotels often rumored to be planning a condo conversion are rethinking their strategies. Jonathan Tisch, chief executive of Loews Hotels, which owns The Regency, says that despite the speculation, the Park Avenue property is definitely remaining a hotel.

What is changing, however, is the geography of where the new hotels are being planned and built. With the traditional midtown area between Third and Sixth avenues overbuilt, developers are moving to less developed areas such as the lower East Side, Chinatown, Harlem and the far West Side.

One of the most aggressive developers, John Lam of The Lam's Group, plans to put as many as 1,200 hotel rooms into inventory over the next several years. Mr. Lam, who is also a garment industry executive, already owns and operates three hotels in the city, including the 18-month-old Four Points Sheraton in Chelsea. Another five are in the works, including a 500-room Sheraton in Times Square.


Small projects


Other developers have less ambitious plans. The Chinese fast-food operator Wok and Roll Restaurant Group is working with Hanbee Realty to build a 120-room hotel at 231 Grand St.

Raber Enterprise LLC, which owns a building at 54 Canal St., is preparing to put up a 158-unit property there.

Still, some developers see a downside to the current market. Izak Senbahar, who built the year-old Alex hotel at 205 E. 45th St., says land is too expensive. He paid $85 a square foot for the land where The Alex stands; today, he says, he would have to pay between $300 and $400 a square foot.

"I'd love to build another hotel," says Mr. Senbahar, who owns seven residential properties here. "But it's hard to make the financial analysis work with those numbers."



©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[BrooklynRider]

...Another five are in the works, including a 500-room Sheraton in Times Square...

Wonder if this will go up on that corner diagonally across from the Wintergarden Theater?

[londonlawyer]

What's on it now?

[londonlawyer]

8th Avenue would be a prime location for hotels.

[lofter1]

Wonder if this will go up on that corner diagonally across from the Wintergarden Theater?

Do you mean the block with the Brill Building on it?

[krulltime]

Hotels eye expansions
Insiders speculate on next hot hotel brand as market rebounds vigorously


By Alison Gregor
August 2005

The quick recovery of New York City's lodging industry sets the stage for a major hotel operator to push into the ripening and inventory-starved market.

After taking a pounding in the wake of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the city's hotel industry has rebounded vigorously, to the point where average midweek occupancy rates are at or above 80 percent. That's led observers to wonder which hotel operator will come in and grapple for market share, despite the high capital costs and risks associated with large-scale construction here. Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Essex House, the St. Regis and several other upscale hotels in the city, is touted as one of the most likely candidates for expansion among the city's eight major hotel operators.

"Although I do not see any new brands originating in New York City, various brands have the opportunity to expand their presence in the city," said Jose C. Alvarez, senior vice president of Capital Markets at Trammell Crow Company and head of the company's newly formed hospitality division. "Overall, New York City's extraordinary growth and strong lodging fundamentals make it a prime target for most brands to add hotel rooms."

New York's hotel sector saw significant growth in the past two years. For instance, occupancy for the first quarter of 2005 saw a 4.5 point increase to the highest first-quarter level since 1995, according to numbers from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC.

The average daily room rate increased by 9.7 percent in the greatest quarterly increase since 1998. And growth in the average daily rate and occupancy generated a 16.3 percent increase in revenue per available room over the first quarter of 2004.

"The recovery over the last two years has been quite extraordinary," said Ross Woods, director of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Hospitality & Leisure Practice. New York City's lodging market, especially Manhattan, tends to be resilient since the large hotel companies own many of their hotels here versus simply licensing their names.

"Manhattan is a must-have city," Woods said. "They have to be here, so I think that probably provides some stability in terms of ownership in the marketplace, particularly for the larger box hotels."

At the same time, New York is seeing a net loss of hotel rooms because of conversions to condominiums. The overall supply of rooms would remain in equilibrium with the addition of about 1,000 hotel rooms annually, Woods said, but 2004 totals show a net loss of 850 hotel rooms.

"Investors have realized that hotels are a strong addition to their real estate portfolios and more funds, institutions and private investors are attempting to enter the hotel industry than ever before," Alvarez said.

Recently, the buzz around Starwood grew louder when basketball celebrity Magic Johnson and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds purchased Brooklyn's Williamsburg Savings Bank building for a condominium conversion about the same time the fund declared publicly that it would work to develop hip limited-service hotels, temporarily called Project XYZ, in urban areas.

Starwood said it is largely targeting secondary and tertiary markets for its XYZ boutique hotels so its arrival in New York City is by no means assured.

Alvarez said he anticipates the boutique hotel chains that have become so successful in urban areas to spread to other markets.

"The expansion of boutique-like hotels to secondary and tertiary markets will be the next major trend in the hotel industry," he said. "Within 10 years, two to four additional major boutique brands will be prevalent throughout the country."

Boutique hotels are still competing to enter the New York City market, however. Art Adler, a managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, which has a big hotel division, said Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a boutique hotel company based in San Francisco, is the latest company to enter the market with the 205-room 70 Park Avenue.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is actively seeking a place for its new upscale boutique brand Hotel Indigo, he said.

"There are brands that have started elsewhere, but need to be in New York," Adler said. "Kimpton is one. And there are offshore brands that want to be in New York."

Woods agreed, pointing out that Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces recently replaced the Four Seasons as the lessee of The Pierre, and more penetration by European hotel companies into New York is likely.

"You'll probably see other European groups that are amassing brands in the country looking at Manhattan as viable city for entering into the marketplace," he said.

New York is full of independently-owned hotels to suit everyone's taste, he said, such as the Chambers Hotel, Muse Hotel, Library Hotel, Bryant Park Hotel, Soho and Tribeca Grand Hotels.

Even if no new hotel brands appear here, Alvarez said various existing hotel brands may soon expand their presence in the city. "For example, Hyatt only has one hotel in the city unlike its counterparts, Marriott and Westin, which have many hotels," he said.

Recently, limited-service brand hotels such as Hampton Inn, owned by Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Holiday Inn Express, owned by Inter-Continental, have extended their presence in the New York market, Alvarez said. The recently rezoned Hudson Yards area has been targeted as a location for smaller, discount hotels.

But New York City's lodging industry hasn't completely recovered from the terrorist attacks of 2001, Woods said. Though the Manhattan hotel market has begun to thrive, the boroughs have not, despite the optimism displayed by the expansion of downtown Brooklyn's Marriott by about 280 rooms and development of boutique hotel The Smith nearby.

"During the boom period of 1999 to 2000, you just couldn't get a hotel room in Manhattan," Woods said. "So a lot of people were staying in the outer boroughs, Connecticut, Westchester and New Jersey. Despite significant growth rates, we haven't seen this spillover effect taking place."


Copyright © 2003-2005 The Real Deal.

[kliq6]

There will be a large Starwood hotel devleoped on what is now 4 Albany Street, th ebuilding they are demolishing near 130 Liberty

[krulltime]

August 9, 2005

New hotel slated for Little West 12th Street

A new luxury hotel is planned at Little West 12th Street and Washington Street in Greenwich Village, The Real Deal has learned. Developed by Andre Balazs' Hotels AB – the same company that owns the Hotel QT in Midtown and the Mercer in Soho – the new hotel will be dubbed the Standard, New York, and will be near the proposed High Line park. Other details about it remain sketchy, but Polshek Partnership has been named as the architect.


Copyright © 2003-2005 The Real Deal.

[billyblancoNYC]

A LOT OF LUCK

By STEVE CUOZZO
http://www.nypost.com/realestate/comm/51475.htm

August 9, 2005 -- IT took a little serendipity and a lot of patience, but the Elghanayan family-owned Rockrose Development Corp.'s hugely successful 2 Gold St. rental apartment tower will soon be joined by two new neighbors — a second apartment building on the block's southeast corner and a 416-room hotel on its northeast corner.

Rockrose VP Patricia Dunphy says the company spent 10 years methodically assembling most of the block bounded by Maiden Lane and Pearl, Platt and Gold streets, a mere minutes' stroll from Wall Street.

There was one goal-line obstacle to its long-term vision, though: a small parking lot at the corner of Platt and Pearl, whose owner, insurer C.V. Starr, refused to sell. Starr executives parked there and strolled a few blocks to their offices at 70 Pine St., home to embattled insurance giant AIG — whose former CEO Hank Greenberg is also chairman of Starr.

Now that Starr is splitting off from AIG and moving to 399 Park Ave., it no longer needs a place to park cars.

Rockrose just bought the lot for an undisclosed price. It means the Elghanayans can go ahead with plans for the sites abutting 2 Gold St., the $225 million, 51-story rental apartment building it opened this year and which is already nearly full.

Dunphy said Rockrose now owns the whole block except for a narrow, low-rise building at 213 Pearl. The Rockrose assemblage is zoned for a total build-out of 971,747 square feet, of which 2 Gold St. uses up 535,381 feet.

That leaves Rockrose with 436,000 feet — of which 181,000 is zoned for residential and the rest commercial. The Elghanayans wanted to put up a new apartment tower on the southeast corner and sell off the northeast corner to a hotel developer — the logical commercial option in a soft office market.

The problem was that, although Rockrose owned 215 Pearl St. and 10 Platt St., to the south and west of the parking lot, "we always wanted the lot and we couldn't buy it. It was frustrating," Dunphy said.

A few months ago, Rockrose, tired of waiting, put the south corner site instead — consisting of 101 Maiden Lane and 201 Pearl St. — up for sale to hotel companies. Rockrose had secured city approvals for a 33-story mixed-use project with 259 hotel rooms topped by 43 luxury condos, and tapped CB Richard Ellis to sift offers.

On the block's north side, Rockrose was resigned to razing 10 Platt and using the land to expand 2 Gold St.'s plaza, and leaving its 5-story, 215 Pearl St. as it was.

But because Starr decided to unload the parking lot, "We're shifting the hotel to the north end," a jubilant Dunphy said. The purchase came with a bonus: It boosted the air rights available for residential use at the northeast corner to 50,000 square feet, which Rockrose transferred to the south corner site.

CBRE's Robert Taylor, Ron Danko and Dipan Patel are taking offers on the northeast corner, where a 260,014-square- foot, 41-story hotel with 416 guest rooms can be built as of right.

scuozzo@nypost.com

[roadkicker]

does anybody know what happens to the furniture of the rooms and floors that are being converted in condos? are there auctions for these?
and another stupid one: will owners/renters of these new condos within a hotel building use the hotel's facilities such as room service or housekeeping?

watching the whole thing from over the big blue waters in germany, completely fascinated:
roadkicker

[cphdude]

and another stupid one: will owners/renters of these new condos within a hotel building use the hotel's facilities such as room service or housekeeping?

watching the whole thing from over the big blue waters in germany, completely fascinated:
roadkicker

That seams to be the norm, in these places...

[lofter1]

Don't have to go out for food. Or laundry. Or the gym.

Kind of like a sanitarium for the very, very rich?

[roadkicker]

hm.
and are these hotels only getting rid of their high-priced rooms and suites - because people who can afford 2000$ a night for a couple of nights each year rather buy the whole place?
or are mid-range hotels (and rooms) being converted as well?
does anybody know?
roadkicker

[krulltime]

Hotel rates hit the roof
Post biggest increases in country as rooms dwindle, overhead surges; mollifying guests with amenities


By Lisa Fickenscher
August 29, 2005

Sheryl Necheles has never had trouble getting a $150 hotel room in New York City--until this summer. She couldn't find anything affordable, not even through the Web sites that offer discount rooms. So the Chicago resident, who was arranging a trip with her husband and son, decided to redeem her frequent traveler points and booked a $279 room at the Sheraton Towers at Seventh Avenue and West 53rd Street.

"I had wanted to save my points for a trip to Mexico," she says ruefully.

Ms. Necheles is in good company: Many visitors to the Big Apple are being zapped by sticker shock these days.

New York room rates, the highest in the nation, are rising faster than those in any other major U.S. city. The city's average rate for the first six months of 2005 hit $205 a night--a 13% increase over the same period last year, according to PKF Hospitality Research.

With the busy fall and holiday seasons approaching, prices are likely to climb even higher. Corporate clients can expect to pay as much as 20% more for 2006 hotel contracts than they paid this year.

Even industry executives are surprised by the high prices, particularly for hotels not thought of as luxury properties. "I see a lot of unbelievable rates that I find shocking," says Kristin Ruble, director of sales and marketing for the Mandarin Oriental New York, where rooms start at $625 a night.

Still, the visitors keep coming. The city is forecasting nearly 12 million visitors and an average hotel occupancy rate of 87% this summer. In the first half of 2005, the occupancy rate was 81%, nearly 5 percentage points higher than the level in the same period last year.


Rooms are scarce


A shortage of rooms--many of which are being lost as hotel properties are converted into lucrative condominiums--is a major factor driving up prices.

"The rates will drop when there are more hotels," says Vijay Dandapani, chief operating officer of Apple Core, which has five budget hotels in the city.

Hotels say they have been forced to charge more to meet soaring overhead for fuel, labor, property taxes and insurance. Room rates now approach the peak levels reached in 2000, but hoteliers say that their profitability has not returned to 2000 levels.

While hotels up and down the market say the price increases are justified, they are taking steps to counter customer resistance.

The Holiday Inn near Wall Street is negotiating with Hilton and Marriott Courtyard to change its franchise affiliation. Frank Nicholas, managing director of the property, believes that a new identity will allow the facility to raise its rates, which now start at $235 a room and go as high as $419.

"We found that the Holiday Inn name has gotten in the way of us being able to command greater rates," says Mr. Nicholas.

The hotel already has an array of amenities for business executives, and it's spending $1.5 million to update its rooms. But it hasn't shaken travel managers' perception that it's a low-end hotel. Many customers, including major financial firms in lower Manhattan, have balked at paying fat rates at a Holiday Inn.


Hotels add bells and whistles


Apple Core, which this year was able to hike its rates by 15% to as much as $149, will install flat-screen TVs to help justify the increase.

The hotels at the top end of the market are addressing perception issues of their own. The two Ritz-Carlton properties in Manhattan are putting free bottled water in each room, offering complimentary tea or coffee with wake-up calls and upgrading to 400-thread-count linens.

"We want to make sure that our amenities are in line with the rates we are charging," says Daniel Flannery, general manager of the hotel. In July, its room rates were $140 higher than they were at the same time last year.

Some hoteliers are worried that customers will see them as gougers. They recognize that ever-escalating prices deter some people, particularly families and trade shows, from coming to the city. But managers figure if they pamper guests lavishly enough, they won't lose much business.

In the meantime, visitors who value a bargain more than nice sheets find themselves in a tough spot. The good deals on discount travel Web sites are drying up.

Hotel managers acknowledge that they are cutting back on the number of rooms they make available to the sites: They don't need them as much anymore.

Quikbook.com, a Manhattan-based site that specializes in boutique properties, has lost some of the New York hotels with which it did business. Not too long ago, Quikbook had an abundance of deals, and customers could even make last-minute reservations. Today, says company executive Brian Hendricks, "we advise them to book early."

And forget about the holiday season. "The whole fourth quarter has been blacked out," Mr. Hendricks says.


©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[londonlawyer]

I speculate that the Taj Mahal Group of India and the Shangri-La group from Singapore will open hotels in NYC. Both seem eager to expand outside of Asia, and Shangri-La has already done so with hotels opening in London and Vancouver.

[Gulcrapek]

I saw a ten or so floor hotel in LIC on Scarano's site. Too lazy and behind in work to check now.

[pianoman11686]

So Many Presidents, So Few Presidential Suites

By JAMES BARRON

Published: September 14, 2005

When explaining who ended up in which presidential suite and who wanted the soap that had to be imported from France, Brian Honan was as diplomatic as the diplomats from the countries whose leaders he is putting up this week.

Name the countries? Of course not.

"Country A, Country B and Country C," said Mr. Honan, the director of marketing for the Four Seasons Hotel on East 57th Street.

With more than 170 heads of state and government converging on New York this week for the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, Mr. Honan has mastered the peculiar art of New York hotel diplomacy. It involves more than the usual tight-lipped discretion as far as the outside world goes, and more than the usual obsequiousness as far as the V.I.P. guests go.

While everyday New Yorkers are worrying about everyday gridlock, those schooled in hotel diplomacy are worrying about limousine gridlock and security types with sleeves they talk into. Hotel diplomacy involves checking with other hotel executives to find out about the little things world leaders like - the soap, for example.

Mr. Honan heard about that from his counterpart at the Georges V in Paris, where the leader of Country A stayed recently.

Sometimes, too, hotel diplomacy involves nail-biting and improvisation. If the guest in the presidential suite has not checked out by the time the president of Country A arrives, the sign above the door that says "presidential suite" can always be unscrewed and moved to whatever room is available.

Fortunately for Mr. Honan, the Four Seasons has two presidential suites, and a royal suite.

The Millennium U.N. Plaza Hotel, across First Avenue from the United Nations, has only one presidential suite. But Kevin Breen, its director of sales, says, diplomatically, that there are several other large suites that would not disappoint a head of state.

And then there is the Waldorf Towers, with its 26 presidential suites, also all booked. The Waldorf, on Park Avenue at East 50th Street, takes hotel diplomacy so seriously that it has a director of diplomatic relations, Marina Jiang.

Ms. Jiang, who was born in Shanghai and educated in Vienna, has already seen to it that half a dozen suites were repainted in colors intended to please this week's guests. She will also see to it that the flowers in the suite of the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, are red, not white - and not because American conservatives sometimes refer to Mr. Jintao's country as "Red China." To the Chinese, she said, red is a sign of happiness and white is a sign of death.

When she realized that President Bush, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Mr. Hu would be staying at the Waldorf at the same time, she said, the notion that another chapter in the hotel's storied history was being written "gave me chills."

Other hotel-industry types are having chills for a different reason: the supply-and-demand headaches that this week presents. There are too many presidential heads and not enough presidential beds. (Sure, there are prime ministers and kings checking in, too, but just try saying, "too many presidential, prime ministerial and kingly beds.")

"Everyone is asking for favors, for special consideration," said Bjorn Hanson, a hotel industry consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "It can be a nightmare throughout a hotel organization, because the guest arrives at the front desk, maybe knowing in advance there will not be a suite available, and demands a suite, and goes to the front office manager, who has to try to explain, and it gets kicked up through the organization.

"What will happen, daily, is that the general manager or the director of sales or the representative that deals with that account - the embassy here - will get the call: 'Have you had any cancellations?' "

Some hotel-industry officials say the definition of a presidential suite has never been stretched the way it is being stretched this week. The shortage of suites is more acute this year because the Plaza Hotel, on Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, is closed for a makeover that will turn part of it into condominiums. Several other hotels have also been converted to condominiums, taking suites off the market.

Mr. Hanson estimated that 70 percent of what he called the "most desired" hotels in Manhattan will be 95 percent full for the next couple of weeks. PricewaterhouseCoopers's estimate for the year is an occupancy rate of 82.5 percent, 3.9 percent above last year and the highest since 2000. He also predicts that the average price of a room will be $230 a night, 14 percent higher than the average price of $201.76 a night in 2004 as reported by Smith Travel Research.

Cheryl Boyer, president of Lodging Investment Advisors, another hotel consulting company, echoed his estimates. "This is one of the strongest fall seasons that the city has seen in a long time," she said.

That could mean problems for Mr. Honan, though he keeps telling himself that this week is no different than a week when his check-ins include a rock star or a movie star or anyone else who has been on the cover of People magazine.

He has known what to look forward to since last spring, when Country A sent someone to look at the presidential suite. The Four Seasons' presidential suites are on the 51st floor of the 52-story hotel. One faces north and has a view of Central Park. The other faces south. It looks out on the costume-party helmet of the Chrysler Building and the pencil-point mast of the Empire State Building, and it has a Steinway grand piano in the living room. And the royal suite? It is on a lower floor, but is larger, with three bedrooms, to one for each presidential suite. It also has a terrace.

Mr. Honan said Country A's representative looked at all three. "What he wanted was a three-bedroom presidential suite with view of Central Park and grand piano," Mr. Honan recalled. "We said, 'We can't do that in one unit.' " The representative decided to forgo the piano, the terrace and the extra bedrooms, he said, and reserved the presidential suite with the view of the park.

Country B, the second to call, took the other presidential suite. That left the royal suite for Country C.

And the soap? Warned by the Georges V that the leader of Country A wanted Ex Voto soap, Mr. Honan had his staff scour Bergdorf Goodman. He said it sold Ex Voto candles but had no Ex Voto soap. He called Paris, and the Georges V sent enough to last through the summit.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Sales start at 110 Central Park South 12-SEP-05

Anbau Enterprises Inc. has started sales of cooperative apartments at 110 Central Park South, which was formerly the Inter-Continental Hotel.

The conversion plans, which were recently accepted by the New York State Attorney General’s office, permit buyers to sell or sublet without board approval much like a condominium.

The elegant, 26-story, limestone-clad building was designed by J. E. R. Carpenter, one of the city’s premier architects of luxury apartment buildings. It was erected by Samuel Minskoff in the late 1920s as the Navarro with 118 hotel-apartments. In the 1880s, Jose de Navarro built eight connected buildings, 10 stories high, that were known as the Navarro Flats that included the present site as well as those now occupied by Essex House, Hampshire House and the New York Athletic Club. Eventually this site was occupied by the Deutscher Verein, a German social group housed in a palazzo-style structure designed by McKim, Mead & White. That building eventually became the Army & Navy Club until it was replaced by the present building.

One of the early residents of the building was Bennett Cerf, the publisher of the Modern Library and Random House. Other residents included Raymond Loewy, the industrial designer, and Earl Carroll, the nightclub impresario.

The $110 million conversion by Anbau Enterprises has added three floors to the building, which will have seven penthouses with some fireplaces and a total of 61 apartments. The principals of Anbau are Stephen L. Glasock and Barbara van Beuren, both architects.

Costas Kondylis is the architect for the conversion. The building has a 24-hour doorman, concierge service, a second floor gym with breakfast far that opens to an exterior terrace, washers and dryers, Miele cooktops and ovens, Asko dishwashers, Viking refrigerators and wine coolers and valet parking.

The top two penthouses have been sold. A full-floor apartment on the 23rd floor is available for $13,350,000. According to Stacey Greenfield of The Sunshine Group Ltd., one-bedroom units start at $1,400,000, two-bedroom apartments start at $3,507,000 and three-bedroom apartments start at $4,500,000.

[TonyO]

NY Sun

Condominium Conversions Boost the Hotel Industry

MICHAEL STOLER

If you have tried to reserve a hotel room this month, you may have been surprised to find very few available. Hotel occupancy is booming in the city, with the occupancy rate for the year close to 90% and the average room rates up by more than 40% since September 11, 2001.The strong local economy, tourists, conventions, and the loss of more than 3,000 rooms to condo conversions are helping the hospitality market flourish.

This week, the landmarked 174-room Algonquin Hotel at 59 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be sold to HEI Hospitality. It is paying $74 million, or $425,287 a room.

On September 8, Dubai Investment Group paid about $450 million, or $743,802 a room, for the famed Essex House Hotel at 160 Central Park South between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The seller was Strategic Hotel Capital, a private company whose principal shareholders are affiliates of Goldman Sachs and investors advised by Prudential Real Estate Investors. The hotel has two components: the 501-room Westin Hotel and a 104-room St. Regis. There are 148 private residential condominiums in the building, of which 139 were not included in the sale of the property. Dubai plans to invest $50 million in a renovation of the hotel and to convert about 90 rooms, or 15%, into condominium units. This purchase by Dubai Investment represented its first hotel investment in America.

In June, Highgate Holdings and the Carlyle Group purchased the 300-room Crowne Plaza United Nations at East 42nd Street and Second Avenue. They paid $34 million for the leasehold, which has 35 years remaining.

Highgate Holdings, headed by Mahmood Khimji, has become one of the most active purchasers of hotels in the city. Earlier this year, it purchased the Days Inn at 790 Eighth Ave. and West 48th Street. The firm is renovating the hotel and plans to reopen it in October as the first Hilton Garden Inn in New York City. Highgate also purchased the former Howard Johnson on Eighth Avenue, between West 51st and West 52nd streets, and reopened the property as a Hampton Inn.

This summer, Ferrado US bought the 12-story,100-room Avalon Hotel at 16 E. 32nd St. for $35.7 million. It will be renamed the Vincci Avalon Hotel.

***

A few weeks ago, Gemini Real Estate Advisors and 16 tenants in common purchased the six-story, 46-room Howard Johnson Hotel at the corner of Houston and Forsyth streets on the Lower East Side. The hotel was sold for $15.4 million, or $334,782 a room. Earlier this month, a joint venture of the Buccini/Pollin Group and Lubert Adler Management acquired the 21-story, 427-room Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center. They paid $54 million to a joint venture of the Blackstone Group and Prime Hospitality.

A number of hotels are rising on the Lower East Side and the Bowery. Later this year, Richard Born and Ira Drukier, the principals of BD Hotels, will open a 17-story, 140-room boutique hotel at 6 E. 3rd St. in the Bowery. A few blocks away, LoungeSleep Hotels - the principals are Gregory Peck and Matthew Moss - have announced plans to build a 22-story, 145-room hotel on Third Avenue between 5th and 6th streets. It acquired four residential buildings at 25, 27, 29-31, and 33 Cooper Square and plans to begin construction on a $60 million development next year. At 132-138 Fourth Ave., also known as 76 E. 13th St., construction is planned for a boutique hotel, which will open next fall. Adjacent to the American Thread Building at 260 West Broadway, a Hilton Garden Inn is being built at 2 York St., at the Avenue of the Americas and West Broadway.

Construction has recently been completed at 13-15 W. 45th St. for a 20-story Holiday Inn Express. The developer of the hotel is in contract to sell the hotel later this year for about $32 million. Last December, hotelier Andre Balazs opened the 140-room QT Hotel at 125 W. 45th St. Later this year, construction is planned to begin on the 19-story Standard Hotel at 848 Washington St./439 W. 13th St., bounded by West Street, West 13th Street, Washington Street, and Little West 12th Street in the meatpacking district. Last year, he paid $24 million for the site.

At 99 Washington St., at the corner of Rector Place, a 38-story hotel is planned. At 50 Trinity Place, also known as 7-9 Rector Place, a budget hotel is planned. In SoHo, a 40-story luxury condominium hotel is planned on the former site of a parking lot.

***

Directly across from the new headquarters of the New York Times, at 305 W.39th St., an 80-room Comfort Inn will open later this year. A number of other limited-service hotels are planned for the West Side. On the site of a parking lot on West 26th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, another limited service hotel is expected to rise by the end of next year. At 119-121 W. 28th St., a 70,000-square-foot hotel will also be built. At 232-238 W. 29th St., construction is under way for a Holiday Inn Express. A 92-room Wingate Inn is scheduled to open next year at 233-233 W. 35th St. At 373 Fifth Ave. and the corner of 35th Street, renovations are under way at a vacant eight-story office building, which will also open early next year as a limited-service hotel. Near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, a 40-room Howard Johnson is planned to open at the end of next year. Adjacent to the Marriott East Side, at the corner of 48th Street and Lexington Avenue, construction will begin early next year on a 20-story limited service hotel.

On May 15, the 100-room La Quinta Inn Queens, at 37-18 Queens Boulevard in Long Island City, opened. The hotel, the second La Quinta in New York City, is located less than two miles from Manhattan, directly across the Queensboro Bridge. In July, a 76-room Comfort Inn and Suites opened at 60-30 Maurice Ave. in Maspeth, Queens. The midmarket hotel is less than two miles from Midtown and two miles from La Guardia Airport.

***

This fall, a number of new hotels will be opening in the city. They include the city's first Residence Inn by Marriott, scheduled to open in November. The 357-suite hotel is part of the Bryant Park Tower, a 36-story tower of residential condominiums owned by MG Hotels. Interstate Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel. Before the end of the year, the 210-room Courtyard by Marriott New York Upper East Side will open for its first guests at 410 E. 92nd St. and York Avenue. In October, the 65-room Hampton Inn Manhattan/Seaport at 320 Pearl St. in Lower Manhattan will open. Early next year, Thompson Hotels will be opening a 90-room boutique hotel 6 Columbus Circle across the street from the Time Warner Center.

By the end of the year, industry leaders expect that the 177-room Mark Hotel at 25 E. 77th St., between Madison and Fifth avenues, will be sold.

Later this year, the 146-room Sheraton Russell Hotel is expected to close and be renovated into residential condominiums. Earlier this year, SJP Residential Properties and Prudential Financial purchased the property.

A combination of factors is boosting the hospitality market's return, including the demand for hotels as sought-after real estate properties. Tourism also is very important to the city, generating nearly $24 billion a year, providing city and state tax revenues, and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and vice president at First American Title Insurance Company of New York. He can be reached atmstoler@firstam.com.

LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2005

[londonlawyer]

The site on Lex and 48th just south of the Marriot is one of the pieces of crap that I've long wanted to see razed. I hope that they're razing both of the crappy little buildings that are there now.

[krulltime]

Realty Check


By STEVE CUOZZO
October 18, 2005

The Chelsea boom goes on. A parking lot at 121-125 W. 26th St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues has sold for $9.3 million, paving the way for a new hotel.

An Eastern Consolidated team led by Brian Ezratty represented the sellers, a group of private investors and two families.

Eastern's Alan Miller repped buyer McSam Hotel LLC, which Miller termed "the most active builder of smaller hotels in Manhattan" — such as the new Four Points by Sheraton at 158-162 W. 25th St.

The 26th Street site can be built up to 64,760 square feet.


Copyright 2005 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

Fitzpatrick plans new 250-room Midtown hotel


by Lisa Fickenscher

The Fitzpatrick US Hotel Group on Thursday announced plans to build a new Midtown hotel, a step that may help meet growing demand for rooms in Manhattan.

The $500 million hotel and residential project at West 29th Street and Sixth Avenue is being developed by J.D. Carlisle Development Corp. The site is currently a parking lot.

The 250-room hotel will be managed by the Ireland-based Fitzpatrick group, which owns and manages two other properties in Manhattan. It is expected to open in 2009 and will include a 7,000 square foot outdoor terrace with a swimming pool.

With hotel occupancy rates rising to 90% in September, up from 87% a year ago, the project will help but not alleviate the need for more hotel rooms in the city.

An investor group put together by Cathal McGinley, managing director of KMS Commercial, is raising the funds for the building and will handle the sale of residential units.

Mr. McGinley said this joint venture represents the beginning of a five-year expansion plan of the Fitzpatrick hotel brand in the United States.

“We are looking at opportunities in Washington, Boston and another location in New York,” he said.


©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[vc10]

I don't recall a parking "lot" that far north on 6th ave. I do recall a two story parking building on the west side---next to a police precinct house. Is that the location?

Fitzpatrick plans new 250-room Midtown hotel


by Lisa Fickenscher

The Fitzpatrick US Hotel Group on Thursday announced plans to build a new Midtown hotel, a step that may help meet growing demand for rooms in Manhattan.

The $500 million hotel and residential project at West 29th Street and Sixth Avenue is being developed by J.D. Carlisle Development Corp. The site is currently a parking lot.

The 250-room hotel will be managed by the Ireland-based Fitzpatrick group, which owns and manages two other properties in Manhattan. It is expected to open in 2009 and will include a 7,000 square foot outdoor terrace with a swimming pool.

With hotel occupancy rates rising to 90% in September, up from 87% a year ago, the project will help but not alleviate the need for more hotel rooms in the city.

An investor group put together by Cathal McGinley, managing director of KMS Commercial, is raising the funds for the building and will handle the sale of residential units.

Mr. McGinley said this joint venture represents the beginning of a five-year expansion plan of the Fitzpatrick hotel brand in the United States.

“We are looking at opportunities in Washington, Boston and another location in New York,” he said.


©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[krulltime]

And they keep on coming...


New accommodations
Developer plans two brand-name, midpriced hotels near Times Square


By Lisa Fickenscher
October 31, 2005

The developer of a key site near the Port Authority Bus Terminal plans to split his property in two and bring a new, affordable hotel brand to the city.

The Lam's Group had originally planned to build a 250-room Sheraton Four Points Hotel on the site at West 40th Street and Eighth Avenue. Now it will also build a Marriott Fairfield Inn adjacent to the Sheraton. The hotels will share a rooftop restaurant and lounge. Construction is expected to begin before the end of this year, and the hotels should open in 2007.

Hung Luk, executive director of hotel and real estate holdings for The Lam's Group, says Manhattan is underserved by affordable franchise properties.

"We think there is a great opportunity in New York for that segment," adds Liam Brown, senior vice president of Marriott's Fairfield Inn hotels.

The Fairfield Inn will charge room rates of between $180 and $220 and compete with Holiday Inn Express, Hilton Garden Inn and others.

Room rates at the Sheraton Four Points in Chelsea, also owned by The Lam's Group, begin in the low $200s. The Lam's Group is building another Sheraton Four Points in SoHo.

New York lags behind other cities in the country in terms of development of affordable hotels. Outside of New York, the majority of the hotel development has been focused on budget properties.

"It's been the opposite experience in Manhattan," says Thomas McConnell, senior managing director of the hotel group at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. "Most of the hotels being built here are four- and five-star properties."

The affordable hotels in the city have been independently owned, rather than owned by big brands such as Sheraton and Marriott.


©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[krulltime]

Sleeping cheap(er) in New York


Joe Bracantelli
10/24/2005

So you say you'll be in New York today and you need a hotel room? Hey, New York is my home town. Let me help.

The Mandarin Oriental is New York's newest and showiest luxury hotel. Unfortunately, it's sold out. So is the Peninsula, except for a $12,000-a-night suite. But the St. Regis across Fifth Avenue from the Peninsula has a room for $975. The Four Seasons over on East 57th Street is getting $855 and the Ritz-Carlton facing Central Park is asking $750.

C'mon, I hear you say through the computer screen, I just need a room, nothing fancy. Fair enough. The Barclay InterContinental and the Waldorf-Astoria, those Midtown matrons of the East Side, have rooms on Monday. You got $529? No? How sad. But you can walk a few blocks down Park Avenue to Grand Central Terminal. The Grand Hyatt upstairs has rooms for just $469.

Still too much? Geez, you guys are tough. Let's swing over to the West Side and see what I can find for you. Oooh, here's something: The New York Hilton in Rockefeller Center has a room for $399. So does the Westin in Times Square. I can get you into the Marriott Times Square, but that's $459 a night and the Renaissance a few blocks away is $469.

Okay, I sense your frustration. But I've got good news — and I'm not talking about saving money on car insurance. Overheated, overpriced and often oversold Manhattan has a nifty new slew of what the hotel industry calls "mid-priced" or "focused-service" properties.

You know the ones I mean: good, practical, reasonably priced, three-star hotels that were once synonymous with suburban office parks and airport access roads. Having already made it everywhere else, these brands are moving into Manhattan. They sniff opportunity, they are shaking off their little-town blues and they have an undeniable appeal: a familiar brand name, a comfortable room, nifty extras like free high-speed Internet and a cheap room rate.

One of these out-of-towners just checked in this week, in fact. Manhattan's first Hilton Garden Inn opened on Tuesday in the Theater District. The 369 rooms have all the latest, greatest Hilton Garden Inn perks — the Garden Sleep System bed, dark-wood furnishings and Herman Miller Mirra desk chairs — and one special amenity: flat-panel televisions. But except for the fact that the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square doesn't have a pool — the first one in the 250-property chain without a pool, says marketing vice president Mark Nogal — you'd recognize this hotel anywhere.

There is, however, the matter of price: A room at the Hilton Garden Inn today is an eye-popping $349. And don't look for mercy at the pack of Courtyard by Marriott, Four Points by Sheraton, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels that have opened in the Big Apple. You'll pay as much as $499 for a room today at one of those familiar, comfortable, three-star suburban transplants.

"From my point of view, I think it's great," says Adrian Kurre, Hilton Garden Inn's senior vice president of brand management. "And I think we're being fair with guests in the sense that we're still the mid-priced option in the market. It's just that mid-priced in Manhattan is different than it is anywhere else."

Kurre's not kidding. Just a few miles away, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Secaucus, N.J., is just $109 on Monday night. But Manhattan is like no place else in the world and everyone in the world apparently wants to rent a crib in the Big Apple now.

After hitting emotional rock-bottom in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, New York has come roaring back. The weak dollar means New York is a bargain for Europeans and they are visiting in record numbers. Domestic business travelers, who once shunned New York, have returned. A string of high-profile hotel closures — the Stanhope, the Plaza, the Empire, the Mayflower and the Barbizon have shut their doors or are being converted to condos— means Manhattan's total inventory of guestrooms hasn't increased in years. And since New York was already the nation's most expensive city with the most costly real estate, hotel prices have spiraled out of control.

What more proof? There are now three Hampton Inns in Manhattan. Two are sold out today and the one with a vacancy is charging $384. There are three Courtyards in the Big Apple; one is sold out today, one has a vacancy for $399 and the other is offering rooms at $499. The Four Points by Sheraton in the uber-trendy Chelsea neighborhood is sold out. And the Holiday Inn Express, which opened on Fifth Avenue last month, sold out just as I've been writing this. Earlier, it was offering rooms for tonight for $499.

"When you get to all our products in New York, you're adding digits to the price," says Daren Kingi, Marriott's director of sales for New York City. "There is a need for and a demand for Courtyard in New York, so the price is naturally going to be higher. That's the reality of things when you're running occupancies in the high 80%" range.

In other words, you simply can't sleep cheap in New York. Cheaper, yes. But cheap? No.

In fact, you can't run good, cheap hotels in New York even when you try to do it. Apple Core Hotels proves that.

The company is a legend in New York hotel circles. In the last decade, it has successfully renovated distressed office buildings and shabby hotels and reopened them as good, clean hotels at low rates. Led by its chief operating officer, Vijay Dandapani, Apple Core then came up with an even better idea: Brand those renovated properties with familiar names such as Super 8, Red Roof and La Quinta.

When the Super 8 Times Square opened in March, 2002, the introductory rate was $89 a night for a comfortably furnished room that came complete with free continental breakfast and free Wi-Fi. About a year later, Apple Core opened New York's f