NYC Hotel News

[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



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

[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



WINGATE INN HOTEL BREAKS GROUND IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN

http://www.cendant.com/media/pr/pres...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

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)