NYC Hotel News

[antinimby]

So in Chicago the new InterContinental Hotel looks like this nice tall one...
and their first one in NYC looks like this dump?

Yes, that's right.

New Yorkers despise tallness and shiny, new buildings. Those big bad towers are despicable.

They'll hurt New York and we don't want that, now do we?

We want lots of air and sunlight and we don't want the Manhattanization of the boroughs, or for that matter, the Manhattanization of Manhattan so we're getting exactly what we want.

Good for Chicago.

[antinimby]

The hotel is being designed by New York-based architect Nobutaka Ashihara.

And for awhile there, I was at least at comfort knowing that our problem involved only the deadly trio of Kaufman, O'Hara' and Poon.

I had nearly forgotten about our equally abominable Nobutaka Ashihara friend.

Wasn't this guy the one that did the famously, dreadful Bryant Park tower?





How lucky we are to have all these disgusting worms working their darndest to beautify our city!

There's just no end to this living nightmare.

[lofter1]

I don't understand why they 'pull back from the street' neither ... some sort of Zoning requirement ... Why do they do pull this crap?

It's the FAR thing ... The smaller the footprint the higher up they can go in a single mass (up to maximium allowable height) ... by pulling back away from the street the footprint is smaller and therefore they can get, say, 30 stories instead of 25 ...

Building Size

The maximum size (or bulk) of a building on a lot is determined by the floor area ratio (FAR) assigned in the resolution to each zoning district. It is the principal bulk regulation in the resolution, controlling the physical volume of buildings. The floor area ratio expresses the relationship between the amount of usable floor area permitted in a building and the area of the lot on which the building stands.

A building can contain floor area equal to the lot area multiplied by the floor area ratio (FAR) of the district in which the lot is located. For example, a building to be constructed on a 10,000-square-foot lot in a district with a FAR of 10 could contain 100,000 square feet (10 x 10,000 square feet) of floor area. Similarly, a building on a 6,000-square-foot lot in a zoning district with a FAR of 6 could contain 36,000 square feet (6 x 6,000 square feet) of floor area.

[sfenn1117]

Derek pointed it out a while back:

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/sh...&postcount=369

But yikes, it is horrible. There are way too many of these going up....it's a shame, after the first one or two there should have been a push to at least require a streetwall through a rezoning.

[lofter1]

I raised that issue ^^^ at a CB meeting a few months back (in regard to Kauman's 66 Charlton hotel now going up) and was told that changing the zoning to require a uniform street wall would be a long and tedious process.

I passed.

We need somebody younger than me to lead that battle.

[ablarc]

I raised that issue ^^^ at a CB meeting a few months back (in regard to Kauman's 66 Charlton hotel now going up) and was told that changing the zoning to require a uniform street wall would be a long and tedious process.

And it might result in some other unintended consequence(s).

That's the problem with zoning; it's rife with unintended consequences.

In Suburbia, an unintended consequence is global warming. Another is oil dependency on the Mideast. That has brought us an unwinnable war with death and destruction.

[lofter1]

Here is the building at 50 Trinity Place they will tear down for a hotel.

50 Trinity is a corner of Paris/Rome/London and the New York we all fell in love with.

People should be picketing.

I took some pictures of this one today. The building is almost completely intact, except for some cruddy store-front infill on the first floor right at the corner of Rector / Trinity and some window infill along Rector (all of which can be remedied very easily with a proper renovation / restoration).

The rest is glorious.

How this building sat without Landmarks designation / protection for all these years is mindboggling.

[Derek2k3]

That's so upsetting.
Here's a new Mcsam for Clinton. It's two buildings, 10 and 11 stories with a total of 350 rooms.




Goldstein Associates
http://gace.net/

506 44th Street Hotel
New York, New York

Owner: Holiday Inn Corp.
Architects: Gene Kaufman Architects PC
Size: 180,000 SF



Here's a closer look at two of the hotels planned at Chang Corridor. I wonder what architecture school granted Kaufman a degree.



326-330 West 40th Street Hotel
New York, New York

Owner: McSam Hotel, LLC
Architects: Gene Kaufman Architects PC
Size: 300 Beds

[NoyokA]

This whole Chang thing is a nightmare.

[NoyokA]

I wonder what architecture school granted Kaufman a degree.

I would have to guess the Elephant Building School of Design in the Elephant Building, Bangkok, Thailand.





Then again his name is Gene Kaufman, making his propensity for tacky Asian design all the more perplexing. Even his logo is disgusting:



Oy Vey.

[lofter1]

I'm at a point where I don't even know what to say about Chang / Kaufman et al ...

I just find it very sad that all of this garbage is going up in so many places in NYC.

[Derek2k3]

Apparently Chang hates NYC and Gene Kaufman is the first legally blind practicing architect.

[ablarc]

Not much silver lining to all this, but here's what there is: New York becomes more accessible to visitors from the hinterlands who require a somewhat affordable standard hotel room like the ones they're used to back home. That's quite a few people.

We might say it's too bad that when they get to New York, they'll find it's more like the place they just left, but to them that's a good thing (as they prepare for dinner at Applebee's).

Homogenization.

Oh, I guess their skylines have been getting manhattanized for decades...

[antinimby]

^ Even in middle America, they don't have things that look as atrocious as this:

[lofter1]

The Chang / McSam / Kaufman "Sheraton Four Points" at 66 Charlton has almost reached the half-way mark on its way to 20 stories ...