Following the CurbedWire inquiry regarding "two low-rise buildings between 66 Charlton and the Big Hudson Street Hotel thing," we venture into the bowels of the Department of Finance where info shows that Extell and Gary Barnett have entered into a $16M + agreement covering the recently combined lots at 68 - 76 Charlton / 61 - 63 Vandam. So far, the only Building Permits for this site cover the demolition of some squat brick buildings which have been sitting empty there for years, with no info on what's to come. Some recent news about a proposed Hudson Square BID notes that Extell is on board, so they're definitely showing active interest in the area. Extell has another site down the block at Sixth and Vandam, but that one has been inactive for months now. But with the "shimmering" Sheraton Four Points to the east and the snazzy Viceroy Hotel complex rising at 330 Hudson to the west Gary and gang are well positioned to get aboard the hotel bandwagon pulling into downtown.
· CurbedWire: More Transients in HuSq [Curbed]
· Sleepy's Will Survive the Onslaught of Soho Love [Curbed]
· Four Points by Sheraton Touches Down at 66 Charlton [Curbed]
"$260 a night!" Bob said. "I know it's New York and all, but I'm getting raped, aren't I. When they took me up to my room I just rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe it. It was a crack den. I started looking around for needles and used condoms and stuff on the floor." [Living With Legends]
Is Joseph Rose the new Rosie O'Donnell? And by that, we mean is the former director of the Department of City Planning about to become Donald Trump's #1 enemy? Trump, as well as an army of Hudson Square/West Soho locals and leaders, has been up in arms over the proposed massive garbage garage at Spring and Washington Streets. The negative impact on Trump Soho's views aside, the sanitation plan is also rumored to be affecting the condo values at the nearby Urban Glass House, thereby endangering its Urban Ass House classification. Which brings us back to Joseph Rose, and the little matter of a new 800-foot-tall hotel.
What can happen when the city tries to rezone a neighborhood, but the rezone takes a long time? In the case of part of Long Island City known as Dutch Kills the answer is: it leads to a hotel boom. Today's Daily News offers up a rundown on the eleven hotels--yes, eleven--that are going up as the city works on a rezone that would allow residential development, but ban tallish hotels. (Click on the image to see all the hotel goodness in detail.) One resident, who is apparently not a fan of the hotels says, "It's like fiddling while Rome burns. They're allowing all the hotels to come in and destroy the neighborhood they are trying to save." The city started working on the rezone almost three years ago. All the hotels have broken ground since then. There's some sense, though, that the developers will convert some of the hotels to condos. Or maybe they won't. There's a separate Japanese hotel boom underway on Jackson Avenue near Court Square that has nothing to do with Dutch Kills. Either that, or our tourist friends will be wandering around some far flung spots.
· Rezoning delay in Dutch Kills draws ire [NYDN]
· Dutch Kills=Hotel Land [OuterB]
Yesterday, we received a Valentine's Day love note from Donald Trump, and by "love note from Donald Trump" we of course mean "formal letter from a Trump Soho lawyer." It came as a response to our publishing a quote from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation's recent update on the legal challenge to the Trump Soho. It read, "Following the deadly construction accident at the Trump SoHo Condo-Hotel earlier this month, the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals has FINALLY scheduled the hearing on the legal appeal of the city's approval of this project. That hearing is currently scheduled for Wednesday, February 27th at 10 am." According to the Trump folks, the hearing was scheduled before the accident, so the "two events are mutually exclusive." Noted, but what makes the letter interesting is that it's the first time we can recall Team Trump publicly acknowledging the Trump Soho "incident."
The Hotel Chelsea is leaking—LEAKING, we say. Here's a report from artist Michele Zalopany's studio: "There’s a two-foot hole in her living room ceiling where the water pours through--buckets when it rains. Michele had to climb up on a ladder herself and remove the cracked and drooping plaster so it wouldn’t fall on somebody’s head." Total. Fucking. Chaos!!! [Living With Legends]
The only thing slightly more ridiculous than the preservation of the flimsy façade of 211 Pearl Street (while its historic neighbors were obliterated) is what Rockrose Development Corp. plans on doing with it. A Curbed tipster dropped by the Financial District/Seaport area yesterday and snapped a couple pictures of the Pearl Street scene, and it looks like Rockrose isn't wasting any time in building that new behemoth. Of course, we're still waiting on renderings of the Lam Group's massive double hotel just down the block, what is sure to be another tranquil addition to what was once Manhattan's first World Trade Center. That'll be a fun one, for sure.
The loved/hated Hotel Pennsylvania across the street from Madison Square Garden on Seventh Avenue is currently fighting for its life, but one thing that's probably not helping the landmarking cause is the hotel's willingness to be shat upon. Oh, we're just kidding, big guy! But when The Real Estate ran a press release announcing that one of the amenities the hotel was adding for the convenience of Westminster Dog Show attendees was a "his/her's relieving area," we thought, "Hey, that would make an amusing picture." Sure enough, the Times' photo essay reveals the basement boudoir. And yes, we're as surprised as you are that they bothered putting plastic down.
· Slide show: Westminster Dog Show [NYT]
· Merrill Lynch Staying Put; Hotel Pennsylvania Safe? [Curbed]
· Hotel Pennsylvania Gets Another Landmarking Nod [Curbed]
UPPER EAST SIDE—A fan of our column writes: "Your column has had some stories on 78th btwn 3rd and 2nd. The building at 205 E 78 can not be to thrilled with losing their lot line windows. The 79 corner has a permit for fencing and notices about asbestos removal (right). Let's all take a deep breath." [CurbedWire Inbox]
HARLEM—Some dirt is getting moved uptown. Writes a tipster, "I live on 125th St. between 5th & Lenox. Construction has started in a long-vacant lot next to my building. Word on the street has it that it's going to be a hotel. If so, it would be the first new hotel in Harlem in decades (since Harlem Park has morphed into a retail space)." Indeed, it's supposed to be this crazy thing. [CurbedWire Inbox]
WILLIAMSBURG—Because we need a 10,000th Williamsburg item of the day, we point you to this Craigslist listing for a "beautiful house on a quiet residential block" that's "primed for knockdown." A 'Burgite writes: "if this craigslist ad doesn't describe Wburg to a T, I don't know what does. note unintended (but prophetic?) use of 'homely.'" [CurbedWire Inbox]
Is it strange that every morning we wake up and check the weather conditions outside by loading The Standard's updated-every-15-minutes construction photo? Yes? Well, buddy boy, when it comes down to getting a heads up on wearing snow boots vs. ruining a perfectly good pair of Dunks, Andre has got our back. AB has your back, too. That's just the kind of guy he is.
· The Standard [Official Site]
· Construction Watch: The Standard Welcoming Voyeurs [Curbed]
For the city's hip hoteliers, buying a decrepit but historic single-room occupancy building is an easy target for expanding a burgeoning empire. Just toss out the bums, restore the hotel to its earlier grandeur, add some trendy restaurants, jack up rates and—voila!—a new trophy for the portfolio. It's a simple plan, but two recent cases are proving to be anything but simple. Last week, the Observerreported that the Hotel Riverview—the rundown Jane Street spot that houses nightspot Socialista and was recently purchased by Bowery Hotel/Maritime Hotel honchos Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson—is tangled in a mess of illegal renovations and clingy tenants. This week, it's a similar theme, only the topic is the Hotel Breslin on Broadway and 29th Street (right), awaiting its conversion to the supercool Ace Hotel complete with hipster barber shop, hipster coffee shop and a restaurant from the Spotted Pig guy. The Ace hopes to open next December (even though the rooms don't have private bathrooms yet), but tenants have just filed a lawsuit alleging "veiled threats" and "interruption of essential services" as part of a campaign of harassment to oust the rent-regulated residents. The hotel is currently trying to buy tenants out, and it's easy to see why: The lease on this future mint is a crazy-low $50k/month through 2029.
· Dear Tenants, Please Leave. Love, Hotel Breslin [NYO]
· Endgame for Old New York at the Hotel Riverview [NYO]
· Crappy Part of Broadway Will Suffer Hipster Invasion [Curbed]
HARLEM—Writes a distraught tipster, "I just noticed that they knocked down the beautiful Church of the Master at the corner of W 122nd and Morningside Avenue (right). I thought they were just fixing the roof. It was the most beautiful building in the neighborhood. I can't believe nobody protested." In an entertaining Streetscapes column about the history of the 1893 structure, Christopher Gray wrote of the proposed roof repairs. That was 13 years ago. Guess it didn't work out? [CurbedWire Inbox; photo via carpe icthus/Flickr]
SOHO—The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation just caught a break in their legal challenge against the Trump Soho. From the group's lastest update: "Following the deadly construction accident at the Trump SoHo Condo-Hotel earlier this month, the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals has FINALLY scheduled the hearing on the legal appeal of the city's approval of this project. That hearing is currently scheduled for Wednesday, February 27th at 10 am." The GVSHP is trying to get the Trump Soho's approvals rescinded. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Comments
Yesterday, we received a Valentine's Day love note from Donald Trump, and by "love note from Donald Trump" we of course mean "formal letter from a Trump Soho lawyer." It came as a response to our 
UPPER EAST SIDE—A fan of our column writes: "Your column has had 
For the city's hip hoteliers, buying a decrepit but historic single-room occupancy building is an easy target for expanding a burgeoning empire. Just toss out the bums, restore the hotel to its earlier grandeur, add some trendy restaurants, jack up rates and—voila!—a new trophy for the portfolio. It's a simple plan, but two recent cases are proving to be anything but simple. Last week, the Observer 
HARLEM—Writes a distraught tipster, "I just noticed that they knocked down the beautiful Church of the Master at the corner of W 122nd and Morningside Avenue (right). I thought they were just fixing the roof. It was the most beautiful building in the neighborhood. I can't believe nobody protested." In an entertaining 
