October 9, 2008

New NYC hotels: Vu, Cooper Sq., Ace, Wolf, Crosby St.

There are a slew of hotels under construction in New York City. Here’s a look at several, including some preparing to open before the end of the year.

The Kimpton-run Vu Hotel, which is billing itself as “the first upscale hotel in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen,” touts a “fall 2008” opening, but January 15 is the earliest date its online reservation system will let you book a room, (from $375.)

The former printing house has been remade by designer David Rockwell, architect Carlos Zapata and filled with the photography of Michael Palladino. Its roof-top lounge will have views of Times Square and the Hudson River, according to the hotel website.

As for dining, the 80-seat restaurant Print will be located on the ground floor, serving a seasonally-inspired locavore menu drawing inspiration from the South of France and the Southern Italy’s Mezzogiorno region.

On the 16th floor, Clear will serve breakfast and lunch, switching to cocktails and champagne by night. There’s seating for 66 inside and 177 outside. Oh, then there’s the semi-private cabanas as well.

Rooms at the Vu will come with wi-fi, WebTV, iHome Sound System, flat-screen HDTV cable with over 150 channels, including HBO, Showtime, on-demand movies and games with Nintendo 64, Frette linens, goose-down feather beds, L’Occitane bath products, and French-press coffee upon request.

Vu is located on 11th Avenue at 48th St., map.

Among other hotels under construction, the Trump SoHo condo-hotel aims to open its 399 rooms in spring 2009 with a Quattro restaurant, a 12,000-square-foot spa and outdoor pool deck with private cabanas.

Opening soonish, the Cooper Square Hotel will have soft opening rates of $275, according to HotelChatter.

The Hilton Garden Inn Tribeca hopes to open later this month, but isn’t yet accepting reservations.

The Ace Hotel is targeting an opening in “Winter O8/09” and will be taking reservations “pretty soon” according to the website. Ace Hotel will be located on 29th Street at Broadway.

Thompson’s Smyth Tribeca at 85 West Broadway is scheduled to open “winter 2008/09.”

Manhattan will also get a 60-room hotel at Madison and 27th called The Wolf, according to HotelChatter. It will get its own rooftop venue, the Rioja Lounge, serving food and drinks with views of the Empire State Building and the original Met Life Tower, according to Hotel & Motel Management.

The 167-room Hotel Ludlow, located at 180 Ludlow Street will open in the first quarter of 2009 and will be managed by Desires Hotels. Desires already runs the Mela near Times Square, and will run The Wolf at Madison Square Park, plus another hotel in the works for 2010: the all-suite Cassa Hotel & Residences in Midtown.

The Standard, straddling the High Line near the Hudson River, still proclaims it’s “coming soonish.”

The $100 million restoration of The Pierre is underway, with its 200 rooms slated to reopen in “early 2009.”

The Mark, also under renovation, will reopen as a condo/hotel with the hotel targeting a “fall 2008” reopening under the management of James Sherwin, (formerly of The Carlyle.) In April, he told the New York Times that room rates will start around $1,000 a night.

Curbed has pictures of the Crosby Street Hotel under construction downtown. Firmdale Hotels of London, which will operate the Crosby property, hopes to open its doors in “early 2009.”

One block south of the World Trade Center site, the W Downtown is looking at a Sept. 15 debut next year. The 57-story tower is well under construction at 123 Washington St.

Soon after, a Sheraton Tribeca is scheduled to open at 370 Canal Street — on November 4, 2009. Downtown Brooklyn will get its own Sheraton Brooklyn, opening at 228 Duffield Street in June 2009.

Westin is working on a element by Westin at 311 W. 39th Street with the optimistically precise opening date of November 30, 2010.

Several aloft hotels are scheduled for the city, including an aloft Downtown Brooklyn (opening March 1, 2010 at 228 Duffield Street;) aloft Harlem, (opening June 10, 2010 at 2296 Frederick Douglass Boulevard) and aloft Long Island City (opening Dec. 31, 2010 at 29-43 41st Avenue in Queens.) There’s also an aloft Woodbridge (scheduled to open on New Jersey’s Route 9 in March 2010.)

The 270-room Mondrian SoHo is still in the works, a joint venture between Morgans and Cape Advisors. The hotel will have a restaurant, bar, ballroom, meeting rooms, exercise facility and a penthouse suite with outdoor space, according to Morgans August SEC filings.

Across the river, Jersey City’s Westin Hotel is making progress, according to New York’s Sixth. The opening date is February 3, 2009 but the hotel will not accept reservations for dates prior to March 1, according to Westin’s website.

The W Hoboken should open around the same time. It has a February 26 opening date.

Image source: Vu Hotel

Earlier: Vikram Chatwal opens Stay Hotel with rooms from $249
NY hotel news: Morgans reopens, Jane pods for $129
Hotel news: openings, deals, and avg room now $350

October 9, 2008 10:21 AM in Downtown, Drinkology, Foodology, Hotelology, Midtown, Out of Manhattan

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