Lower Manhattan’s Local News
|
|
‘W’ As in ‘Wave Goodbye’
Another Downtown Luxury Hotel Closes Its Doors
|
|
The W Hotel, at the corner of Washington and Albany Streets, in happier days.
|
|
Lower Manhattan’s W Hotel, a 56-story trophy building (located at Albany and Washington Streets) erected amid the wave of giddy real estate speculation that followed the terrorists attack of September 11, 2001, then was nearly shuttered by the economic downturn of 2008, has succumbed to the latest recession.
The upscale lodging accommodation, which closed temporarily at the outset of the pandemic coronavirus, has announced that it will never reopen, according to legal notices filed with Albany regulators. These documents indicate that the hotel will formally cease operations on October 3, but it appears unlikely that facility’s management company will reopen the hotel (which remains closed) before then, only to close it once more. The operators, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, say that more than 130 people will be laid off.
This is the latest in a wave of hotel implosions in Lower Manhattan in recent months. Even before the national and local economies stalled, as a result of quarantine measures, the hotel business in Lower Manhattan had begun to show signs of impending trouble. The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park (at Two West Street) opened to much fanfare in 2002, but was never able to turn a profit. Sold to a new operator in 2018, its name was changed to the Wagner. (The current owner is hoping to exit the hotel business entirely, by seeking permission to convert the structure into apartments.)
More recently, the Andaz Hotel (at 75 Wall Street) was put up for sale by its owner, the Hakimian Organization. The building is being shopped to developers based not on its value as a hotel, but instead for its potential for conversion into office or residential use.
But all of the harbingers came before every hotel in Lower Manhattan (and most throughout New York City) were shut down as part of the social distancing measures that aim to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In the weeks since, many local hotels have been commandeered for other uses: the City is now using the Radisson New York Wall Street Hotel (located at the corner of William and Pine Streets) and the Hilton Garden Inn (at Six Water Street, near the corner of Broad Street), among several others, to house homeless people quarantined because of possible exposure to the disease. And the Conrad Hotel in Battery Park City (located at 102 North End Avenue) was used to house healthcare personnel who volunteered to come to New York and aid in the fight against the pandemic, during the local height of the crisis, earlier this spring.
|
|
Even after the health crisis recedes, however, a significant (and prolonged) financial downturn is widely expected to follow. If this contraction jolts the hospitality industry as similar episodes have in decades past, at least some of the dozens of hotels recently built in Lower Manhattan may not reopen their doors. And others, currently under construction, may never open to welcome their first guests.
In the years leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, visitors wishing to stay in Lower Manhattan had essentially three choices: the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel (destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed), the Marriott World Financial Center Hotel (now known as the Marriott Downtown, on West Street), and the Millenium Hilton Downtown Hotel (on Church Street, opposite the World Trade Center complex).
Today, there are 37 hotels operating in the square mile below Chambers Street, offering more than 7,900 rooms, according to the 2019 Lower Manhattan Real Estate Year in Review, a report from the Downtown Alliance. The same analysis indicates that another 15 hotels, containing an additional 2,000 rooms, are currently under construction or in the planning stages. That represents more than one-fourth of the 56 hotels currently being built or planned in all of Manhattan.
What might become of these structures remains unclear. It is possible (although expensive) to convert hotels into apartment buildings, but an accompanying glut of residential development is also cresting in Lower Manhattan at the same time. It appears likely, however, that such a transformation will alter the local streetscape is ways that are both significant and hard to predict.
What does seem clear is that the hundreds of homeowners who purchased condominium apartments in the tower above the W Hotel face a difficult and uncertain future. As with the Ritz-Carlton (now Wagner) in Battery Park City, they bought homes in the expectation that the value of their property would be bolstered by association with a renowned, prestigious brand.
Also paralleling the plight of residents at the former Ritz-Carlton building is the prospect that whoever buys the W Hotel space may choose to convert the first 22 floors of the building (which housed the lodging facility) into apartments. This glut of supply would further depress values in the W Residences (which occupy the upper 34 stories of the building), while more than a year of demolition and construction would seriously undermine their quality of life. (A similar drama has unfolded at the Wagner Hotel, where the operator has repeatedly sought to obtain permission to close the hotel and convert the facility into apartments, while condominium owners in the tower above have opposed these moves.)
The end of the W Hotel represents the denouement of a tortuous history that began when the Moinian Group (developers of the project) obtained $50 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds—a program designed to subsidize investment by developers in Lower Manhattan in the years following 2001. Before securing public subsidies for the W Hotel and Residences, Moinian also received $82 million in Liberty Bonds to convert a former office building at 90 Washington Street into luxury rentals.
The year before the W Hotel’s 2010 opening, the developer defaulted on $25 million in debt. The hotel debuted and sales launched for the apartments in the tower above just as the recession triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis swamped New York real estate. Within months of the facility’s opening, multiple condominium buyers sued the developer, when the values of their new apartments fell even before they moved in, and brokers were unable to sell even a third of the units. By 2015, the hotel business was sufficiently distressed that Moinian sought (and received) permission to convert four floors of erstwhile lodging space into additional condominium units.
The crisis at the W Hotel (and the broader challenges facing the local hotel industry as a whole) may yet create opportunity for community leaders who have long bemoaned the critical shortage of affordable housing in Lower Manhattan. If even a significant fraction of the Downtown’s hotel inventory were to be adapted for residential use, this process would likely create a thousand or more new apartments. A campaign to enact incentives for developers to set aside at least some of these units as affordable dwellings could mitigate some of pricing pressure suffered by longtime residents in recent years.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
Temporary Storm Surge Barriers Go Up Along the East River
|
|
As Tropical Storm Isaias churns toward New York City, with wind and rain expected on Tuesday, one downtown neighborhood is deploying flood protection measures.
Based on forecasts, the only coastal community in New York City’s Interim Flood Protection Measures program requiring protection from storm surge is South Street Seaport. In preparation, NYC Emergency Management crews installed temporary barriers yesterday along the East River from Wall Street to Catherine Slip and South Street to Water Street. The nearly mile-long line of flood defense consists of HESCO barriers (large sand bags) and orange Tiger Dams (tubes filled with water). The predicted storm surge from Isaias is minor to moderate.
|
|
Tuesday August 4
Online presentation marking the 230th birthday of the United States Coast Guard, which has the largest presence of any military service branch in New York City. Hear stories of the Coast Guard fighting U-boats in both World Wars, hunting bootleggers during Prohibition, and ensuring the safe navigation of the harbor for everybody from container ships to kayakers. Free. 12:30. Turnstile Tours
Children of Holocaust survivors (often referred to as “2Gs”, for second generation) are no strangers to intergenerational trauma. Children of survivors process and cope with inherited trauma in remarkably diverse ways, often through transmutation in the creative process or sublimation into other activities. In this discussion, clinical psychologist Irit Felsen—a trauma specialist focusing on Holocaust survivors and their children—will be joined by award-winning author and poet Elizabeth Rosner (Survivor Cafe, Speed of Light) for a discussion of how trauma is passed on and manifest from generation to generation. $10 suggested donation. 2pm. Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Whether you’re connecting with coworkers or clients, managing up or down or sideways, dealing with difficult people, or pitching your company for funding, your on-camera presence has never been more important. By now, we’ve all gotten at least a little more used to the Zoom meeting. If you’re ready to move past “tips and tricks” to access real presence and confidence, this workshop is for you. The workshop will conclude with a Q&A session – ask your questions about voice, body language, interruptions, nerves, and more. Free. 5:30pm. LMHQ
Agenda to be determined. 6pm. Open to all.
Wednesday August 5
Nearly one-third of all known exonerations involve crimes that were later found to have never occurred. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people spend time in prison every day for fictional crimes. Join former New York City public defender and professor of justice studies Jessica S. Henry and Innocence Project State Campaigns Director Michelle Feldman to discuss the flaws in the criminal justice system that allow no-crime wrongful convictions to regularly occur. Touching upon the major themes of Jessica’s book, Smoke but No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened, the conversation will dig into the scope, frequency, significance, types, and causes of no-crime convictions as well as highlight the systems that perpetuate these injustices. It will wrap up with a Q&A session to address your most pressing criminal justice system questions. Free.12pm. LMHQ
A weekly bagpipe tribute honors those who died on 9/11 as well as those who are sick or who have died from exposure to hazards and toxins in the aftermath of 9/11. Bagpipers play near the 9/11 Memorial Glade. Free. 1:30pm.
|
|
Inundation Exhortation
Federal Report Foresees More Frequent Flooding for Lower Manhattan
|
|
Flooding at the Battery (seen here during 2012’s Hurricane Sandy) may become a once-every-three-days event in decades ahead, according to a new federal report.
|
|
A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal scientific agency responsible for study of oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere, predicts that Lower Manhattan will in the next 12 months experience between double and triple the number of flooding days that it did in 2000.
The report, an annual study compiled by NOAA, is titled, “2019 State of U.S. High Tide Flooding with a 2020 Outlook”. It paints a grim picture of what climate change (especially rising sea level) is likely to do to coastal communities throughout the United States, noting that, “NOAA tide gauges are measuring rapid changes in coastal flooding along U.S. coastlines due to [relative sea level, or RSL] rise.
|
|
CLASSIFIEDS &PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades
Respectable Employment
Lost and Found
———————————————————–
Personal assistant needed
for filing, packaging/mailing, spreadsheets.
Apple computer proficiency.
Handyperson skills helpful.
SHSAT TUTORING
Stuyvesant HS graduate
available for SHSAT tutoring. $40/hr. Zoom or in-person.
NOTARY PUBLIC IN BPC
$2.00 per notarized signature.
Text Paula @ 917-836-8802
Nurse’s Aide
Caring, experienced Nurse’s Aide seeks PT/FT position.
Excellent references.
ELDERCARE:
Available for PT/FT Exp’d. Refs.
Experienced Elder Care
Able to prepare nutritious meals and light housekeeping.
Excellent references.
HOUSEKEEPING/ NANNY/ BABYSITTER
Available for PT/FT. Wonderful person, who is a great worker. Refs avail.
Worked in BPC. Call Tenzin
347-803-9523
Seeking Full-Time Live-In Elder Care
12 years experience, refs avail.
I am a loving caring hardworking certified home health aide
Marcia 347 737 5037
IT AND SECURITY SUPPORT
Expertise in 1-on-1 tutoring for all ages. Computer upgrading & troubleshooting. Knowledgeable in all software programs.
347-933-1362. Refs available
If you would like to place a listing, please contact
|
|
Get Out on the Water
from North Cove
Need a safe and breezy break from your apartment? Several cruise operators have reopened in North Cove and are offering opportunities to get out on the water, including Tribeca Sailing, Ventura, and Classic Harbor Line. All cruise operators are adhering to social distancing guidelines; check individual websites for details.
|
|
The Honorable William Wall is open
Click for more information.
|
|
Ill Deeds Done
Bill Would Impede Easing Restrictions on Use of Health Facilities
A bill recently ratified by the State Assembly aims to make less likely any future reprise of the controversial 2014 sale of Rivington House, which served for decades as an HIV/AIDS care facility. The Lower East Side building was acquired by real estate speculators, who paid $28 million—a fraction of its market value—because of a deed restriction that committed the building to use as a clinic.
|
|
Referendum Addendum
One Month Later, Election Results Are Official (Sort Of…)
|
|
Slightly more than a month after the contested primary between Grace Lee ( left) and Yuh-Line Niou (right) for the Democratic Party nomination to represent Lower Manhattan in the State Assembly, something resembling a final result is available.
|
|
Welcome to the Occupation
In the hours before dawn on Wednesday morning, NYPD officers in riot gear swept through the pedestrian plaza at the corner of Centre and Chambers Streets (between City Hall and the Municipal Building) and forcibly removed more than 100 protestors who had been camped there since early June, under the rallying cry of “Occupy City Hall,” to demonstrate their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Later that morning, the Broadsheet spoke to a group from the encampment, who (using first names or pseudonyms) reflected on their time within the improvised commune they had come to call “Abolition Park.”
|
|
Weir and When
Thursday Meeting Reviewed Resiliency Plans for Northern Battery Park City
|
|
On Thursday, July 23, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) and Community Board 1 (CB1) co-hosted an online public meeting focused on the North Battery Park City Resiliency Project.
The meeting was a follow-on to a public discussion held last February, at which preliminary options and design concepts were reviewed by the BPCA, along with the team of engineers and architects who will be conceiving the measures intended to make the northern edge of the community resistant to sea-level rise, climate change, and future extreme-weather events.
|
|
Higher, Wider, Handsomer
Finalists Announced in Design Competition to Improve Pedestrian Access to Brooklyn Bridge
|
|
The City Council and the Van Alen Institute (a New York nonprofit architectural organization, dedicated to improving design in the public realm) have named the shortlist of contenders in a contest that aims incubate fresh ideas for better pedestrian access to the Brooklyn Bridge.
|
|
Today in History August 3
|
|
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John’s, Newfoundland.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed, ending the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
1829 – The Treaty of Lewistown is signed by the Shawnee and Seneca peoples, exchanging land in Ohio for land west of the Mississippi River.
1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also the first American intercollegiate athletic event.
1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
1958 – The world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.
2019 – Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.
Births
1803 – Joseph Paxton, English gardener and architect, designed The Crystal Palace (d. 1865)
1808 – Hamilton Fish, American lawyer and politician, 26th United States Secretary of State (d. 1893)
1899 – Louis Chiron, Monegasque race car driver (d. 1979)
1920 – P. D. James, English author (d. 2014)
1926 – Tony Bennett, American singer and actor
1941 – Martha Stewart, American businesswoman, publisher, and author
1959 – Koichi Tanaka, Japanese chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
1973 – Chris Murphy, American politician, junior senator of Connecticut
Deaths
1460 – James II, king of Scotland (b. 1430)
894 – George Inness, American painter (b. 1825)
1966 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
Edited from various sources including Wikipedia,and other media outlets
from mainstream to extreme.
|
|
395 South End Avenue,
New York, NY 10280
212-912-1106
|
|
|
No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher © 2020
|
|
|
|
|