Mr. and Mrs. Alfred G. Vanderbilt and servant,” reads the very first entry in the Plaza Hotel’s guest register. That set the tone for the place. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, wealthy Tom Buchanan accuses upstart Jay Gatsby of being in love with Daisy Buchanan while all three are drinking in a private room at the Plaza. The hotel’s Oak Room, a dim and smoky den of upper-class intrigue, is where Cary Grant was kidnapped in North by Northwest. Neil Simon gave the hotel a title role in Plaza Suite, and Eloise, the feisty creation of writer Kay Thompson, cavorted down its plushly carpeted corridors.
In ever-changing New York City, where eras end every 20 minutes or so, April 30 truly marked the end of an age: That day the grand old Fifth Avenue dowager, the Plaza Hotel, expired at 98. When the new Plaza reopens in late 2006 or early 2007, it will be a chimera: half hotel, half apartment house. More than 50 percent of the building’s floor space will be devoted to 180 superluxury condominiums, all with a view of either Central Park or Grand Army Plaza. Of the original 805 hotel rooms, 350 -- grandly refurbished -- will remain to accommodate well-heeled guests.
So Eloise won’t go homeless, but out-of-towners will have to contend with the loss of still more hotel rooms in a city that keeps misplacing them. In the past two years, more than 3,000 rooms at a dozen hotels have fallen victim to a condo-conversion mania sparked by New York’s dire shortage of luxury apartments, as realtors tell it. According to Scott Durkin, COO of Manhattan realtor Corcoran Group, the city’s inventory of luxury apartments is 40 percent short of demand. Among the hotels at sought-after locations that have succumbed to the syndrome: the Gramercy Park Hotel (507 rooms), on Manhattan’s only private park; the Empire Hotel New York (373), at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; the InterContinental Central Park South (211); the Stanhope Park Hyatt (185), opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Regent Wall Street Hotel (144).
Like the Plaza, some hotels have gone hybrid. The St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue and 55th Street has closed 59 of its 315 rooms so that they can be remodeled into 33 condos. The apartments’ expected selling price: $3,800 per square foot. The old St. Moritz was reborn in 2002 as the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park, with 12 pieds-à-terre, priced at between $10 million and $28 million, sitting atop 300 hotel rooms. Buyers of the condos “want to be perpetual guests,” explains Corcoran’s Durkin. Hotel-condos therefore offer laundry and maid service and internal takeout (a.k.a. room service) from their best restaurants.
The disappearing-hotel phenomenon is complicating life for anyone trying to book a first-class room in the Big Apple. Industry trackers at PricewaterhouseCoopers project that by year-end New York will have 64,900 hotel rooms -- 2 percent fewer than in 2003. The diminishing supply, combined with a growing demand fed by a rebound in tourism, means that the cost of renting a hotel room can only go up, and it has: The average daily rate in Manhattan is now $223.65 -- up 10.8 percent over 2004. New rooms are on the way, but the 1,394 hotel rooms that will open this year are offset by 1,949 rooms that will never again be disturbed by a hotel maid. Thus far a forecast for 2006 shows only 998 new rooms opening.
Among the expected arrivals this year is a 357-suite Marriott Residence Inn at Bryant Park, to open in late October, that is priced and designed for executives residing in the city on long-term work contracts. And in keeping with the Harlem Renaissance, a $200 million, 226-room Marriott Courtyard Hotel, designed by master Mexican architect Enrique Norten, will open at 125th Street and Park Avenue in late 2006. On the other end of town, actor Robert De Niro’s latest Tribeca project, the six-
story, 83-room Downtown Hotel, is likewise scheduled to open next year.
Business travelers who can no longer stay at their favorite New York hotels can find worthy replacements. The four comparatively unheralded hotels that follow are convenient to Grand Central Terminal, to the West Side and to Wall Street. Perhaps equally as important, each has a critical appendage: a restaurant headed by an established Manhattan chef.
The Alex: Glass-enclosed bamboo groves flank the entrance to this hotel designed by architect David Rockwell, who was also behind the renovation of Grand Central Terminal, a few blocks to the southwest. A minimalist theme carries through the 73 rooms and 130 suites (the latter featuring kitchenettes). To maximize usable space, the furnishings are comfortable but not overlarge, workstations can be stored behind closed doors, and the nightstands-cumwriting tables are on wheels. Southwest-facing rooms above the 15th floor look out on the dazzling art deco Chrysler Building. Other plusses are a free gym and a business center. A bigger draw, however, may be the Asian fusion restaurant Riingo (“apple” in Japanese), which is owned by Marcus Samuelsson, the restaurateur and award-winning chef behind Aquavit. Deluxe rooms begin at $399. 205 East 45th Street; (212) 867-5100; Riingo, (212) 867-4200; www.thealexhotel.com.
The Blakely: Richard Born and Ira Drukier, the entrepreneurial new owners of the former Gorham Hotel, have brightened up the West Side hotel’s once-stuffy guest quarters (54 suites and 57 rooms). They began by yanking up the old gray carpet to expose pristine wood floors, then installed classic cherry furniture and sleek flat-screen TVs. The once-garish lobby, which shimmered with mirrors, has been turned into a dark-paneled clubhouse-style library, complete with a deep leather sofa. The Blakely’s 17th-floor meeting room has its own terrace. Just off the hotel’s main entrance is Abboccato, lauded by one restaurant critic for its “polished” Italian menu. What’s more, the restaurant offers room service. Rates begin at $245 for a double, though prices are scheduled to go up in September. 136 West 55th Street; (212) 245-1800; Abboccato, (212) 265-4000; www.blakelynewyork.com.
The Hotel Gansevoort: The one-year-old Gansevoort is the only full-service hotel in the now-swank meatpacking district. Assuredly, it is the only lodging in town to have columns in its lobby that are trimmed in eel skin. Make no mistake: This hotel aims to cater to the young, hip and moneyed. The hotel’s rooftop pool, spa and Japanese garden bar attract Europeans and fashionistas. Yet because the Gansevoort is only ten minutes from the World Financial Center downtown, it also draws the trendier business and financial sorts. The hotel’s flash is matched by that of its cutting-edge Japanese restaurant, which is owned by Jeffrey Chodorow. Ono specializes in robata, or open-flame, grilling. A sommelier of sake is on staff to help diners choose from among more than 40 rice wines. Twenty of the 187 light-filled and elegantly understated rooms are suites; the duplex penthouse boasts a fireplace and an office. Singles start at $395. 18 Ninth Avenue; (212) 206-6700; Ono, (212) 660-6766; www.hotelgansevoort.com.
70 Park Avenue Hotel: Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, proprietor of hotels Monaco and Palomar in San Francisco, has transplanted its Northern California chic to the stodgy former Doral Park Avenue. At 70 Park, in the pretty Murray Hill neighborhood, the redesigned, refurbished and renamed hotel pours wine gratis for guests in its lobby each afternoon. But then, Kimpton CEO Tom LaTour owns a Napa Valley vineyard and believes in spreading the gospel of the grape. There are also food tutorials, as chef Kevin Reilly of 70 Park’s cozy, baroque Silverleaf Tavern occasionally gives impromptu cooking demonstrations. The 205 guest rooms put comfort first, beginning with wool-and-silk bedcovers. The standard rate for a double room is $395. 70 Park Avenue; (212) 973-2400; Silverleaf Tavern, (212) 973-2550; www.70parkavenuehotel.com.
Author Fitzgerald, who once romped in the Plaza fountain with his wife, Zelda, famously said there are no second acts to American lives. He’d be interested to see if that goes for the Plaza.
