July 16, 2005

Hilton, Sheraton considering downtown Brooklyn

Construction will begin in September on two new hotels in downtown Brooklyn, possibly a 300-room Sheraton or a 180-room Hilton Garden, according to Brooklyn Daily Eagle. (Free, but extremely annoying registration process required to see their story.)

The hotels would be built on adjoining lots at 216-228 Duffield St., near Willoughby Street. (Map.) The property was purchased in October by hotel developer John Lam of The Lam Group, which has built several other hotels in the city.

The Duffield Street location is near Junior's cheesecake empire and not far from the only other big hotel in the borough, a Marriott, which is now undergoing a 280-room expansion. Nearby subway lines include the exciting M and R at Metro Tech; the 2 and 3 at Hoyt; and the A, C and F at Jay St./Borough Hall. (Link found via Brownstoner.)

Update: Paid a visit to the site yesterday and realized it's just across the street from a house that may have been used on the Underground Railroad, (pictured right.) The hotels would occupy space that's currently used as a parking lot, and by a building that houses a fish and chips shop on the ground floor, (pictured above, left.) The owner of the "Duffield Street stop of the Underground Railroad" also keeps signs in his front window for the Duffield Street Block Association, the Brooklyn Coalition Against Urban Removal, "save our home" and "eminent domain abuse," so no telling if the hotel developer will have an easy go of it.

Earlier: New Brooklyn luxury hotel slotted for Smith Street
1,500 new hotel rooms coming to NYC in 2006 - study
Queen Mary II to dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Brooklyn as a hip (or gentrified) tourist wonderland
Holiday Inn Express under construction at Gowanus
1,500 new hotel rooms coming to NYC in 2006 - study
A Brooklyn B&B -- but it's in Bed-Stuy

July 16, 2005 11:24 AM in Hotelology, Out of Manhattan

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