Results tagged “hotels”

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo now has his eyes set on the city's top two hotel developers who have ties with a contractor recently accused of paying construction workers based on their race. Developers Sam Chang and John Lam— who've created thousands of hotel rooms—used contractor Michael Mahoney, who allegedly paid white carpenters $25/hr, blacks $18/hr and Latinos and Brazilians $15/hr, for a number of their projects. A District Council of Carpenters supervisor said: “Sheetrock, lumber, nails, cost pretty much the same for any contractor. But for these greedy people, labor is the difference and success comes off workers' backs."

A housekeeping manager at the Essex House has confessed to the stabbing murder of Sara Bejjani after investigators say he attempted to rape the woman who had been residing inside the luxury hotel along Central Park South. 29-year-old Derrick Praileau had worked at the hotel since he was 17 and is described as being known for having a "flash temper." He told police that he showed up drunk before his 6 a.m. shift Saturday, used his key to get into Bejjani's 10th floor apartment and then admits, "I just lost it."

A businesswoman from Dubai was found yesterday inside a condo at the Essex House, disrobed, with her throat slashed and a jumprope around her neck. 44-year-old Andree (Sara) Bejjani, president of Royal Investments, LLC, a real estate investment firm based in Dubai, had been staying at the luxury hotel on Central Park South since August. This morning cops arrested an Essex House employee, Derrick Praileau, but have not yet charged him.

The NYPD held a briefing for hotels today, warning them that they are "vulnerable to a Mumbai-style attack," according to the AP. Last week's attacks in Mumbai included terrorists taking over two luxury hotels, and the NYPD "advised the security executives to train their staffs to be more suspicious of people loitering in lobbies and on guest floors, and of guests who book rooms for unusually long stays." An intelligence company reports that the Mumbai terrorists "closely followed" a foiled 1993 plan that targeted NYC hotels and used watercraft to gain access to sites. The chairman of the Hotel Association of New York's security committee (and executive director of risk management at the NY Palace Hotel) said, "There are of course certain inconveniences you can impose without scaring the life out of tourists and your guests. There has to be a happy medium and a balance to it."

In recent years, as the dollar weakened, tourism remained high and helped bolster the city's economy. However, the faltering economy's repercussions are starting to hurt the hotel sector. The Marriott Marquis's general manager tells Crain's, "The financial markets have scared off a lot of different companies that we do business with.” And a budget hotel operator tells the Times, "There’s hesitancy in bookings. We hold our breath and fill up rooms at the last minute. Occupancy has been weaker in October, traditionally one of the strongest months.” The hotel industry is reiterating their opposition to any hotel tax hike, but given the hard times, it's possible the City Council might try to pass one--City Councilman Lew Fidler says an extra $70 million/year could be raised, "The idea of not reaching into the pocket of foreign tourists before reaching into the pocket of New Yorkers is offensive."

If you watch just one Community Board Meeting video this summer, make it this one. Willets Point property owners who've been passionately protesting Mayor Bloomberg's controversial $3 billion plan to rezone the area (to make way for a hotel, convention center, offices and retail stores) have put together this video showing how the sausage gets made over at Community Board 7. Their gripping featurette focuses in on a contentious committee meeting that yielded a yes vote for the city's proposal, despite serious reservations voiced by board members.

Angry opponents to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to develop 62 acres of poorly-maintained land in Willets Point, Queens disrupted a press conference yesterday held by city officials in Washington Square Park to tout the proposal. Councilman Hiram Monserrate, whose district includes Willets Point, led over two dozen protesters to the press conference, where they drowned out advocates for the plan, chanting “Justice for Willets Point!” According to the Times, the police refused to remove the protesters, telling officials they had a right to be there, even if they were being disruptive.

New York City has a buoy helping it resist the receding economic tide: Tourists. In particular, foreign tourists who are relatively flush with currency that has strengthened against the American dollar. The city's marketing agency NYC & Company says tourism increased by one million visitors during the first quarter of 2008 versus the same period in 2007, and that 20% of those visitors arrived from abroad. And last year a record 46 million visited the city!

     

Last year Mayor Bloomberg announced a $3 billion plan to seize 61 acres of the Willets Point district next to the forthcoming Citi Field in Queens through eminent domain, raze it, and construct 5,500 units of housing, a hotel, convention center and over 2 million square feet of office space, restaurants and retail shops. But business owners in the target zone have been fighting it, saying their ‘hood, dubbed the Iron Triangle for its chop shops and scrap yards, just needs repair, not total eradication. Sound familiar?

Cartoons just got a little more real with The Three Thug Mice, an online series set in New York City. The 35 animated shorts follow the tales (and tails!) of three rodent crooks named Vic, Tik and Brik. Described as an "ongoing ghetto saga" set in some of the seedier sectors of the concrete jungle, the trio's home turf is light years away from Disney World. (Though that is the Hotel Chelsea in the background, which isn't so seedy; wonder if that frog jumped after BD Hotels took over management.)

Even while targeted in the Troopergate scandal, State Senate leader Joseph Bruno was living in high style. The New York Sun is reporting that Bruno enjoyed a 3,500 square foot, two-story penthouse suite at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, just weeks before the legislature selected the hotel chain to construct a luxury hotel in Albany.

On November 30, the nine-member board of the Albany Convention Center Authority, which includes a member appointed by Mr. Bruno, voted to begin negotiations with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, of which Sheraton is a subsidiary, as operator of a 400-room hotel to be built in downtown Albany near the senate leader's district.

Continue reading "Joe Bruno: The 'Top Dog' With the Suite Doghouse"

Earlier this year, Mayor Bloomberg announced a major plan to transform Willets Point, the area, also known as the Iron Triangle, across from Shea Stadium, into a thriving area of new housing, business and hotels. However, some are pretty unhappy with the plans, which include replacing 250 businesses, and they've channeled their hopes - and a fair amount of money - to City Council member Melinda Katz. The Post reports Katz received $29,500 from "people...

The sewer main break that brought 15-20 feet of water to 90 West Street's basement garage now means its residents will be homeless for at least two weeks. Electricity and other utilities to the building were turned off and it was thought things would be fixed in 2-3 days, but building management told residents that the "central electrical distribution room" was so damaged that it needs to be "entirely replaced."

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,...

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere....

A 19th century Greek revival building on Pearl Street – the road that formed the oyster shell strewn border of New Amsterdam in the 17th century – will soon be torn down, according to the A.P. The former warehouse at 213 Pearl was built in 1831 and was integral to what Ric Burns calls “the first district in the world devoted exclusively to commerce.” Once the city approves the permit, demolition could start as early...

Ed Hamilton is one of the voices behind the Living With Legends blog, which reports on the Hotel Chelsea -- from the Hotel Chelsea, where he has lived for over a decade. More recently, he put out a book of tales from his hotel home -- an establishment that provides endless material. Legends of the Chelsea Hotel is part satirical and part historical, and Hamilton will be around town reading from it this month. Catch him on November 8th at 192 Books, and on November 12th at The Half King.

Vice President Dick Cheney had a day of hunting at the Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club in upstate New York - and no one was hurt. However, there is a storm brewing over the fact that a Confederate flag was hanging in a garage on the property.

More than 200 people found themselves homeless last night after they were evicted from an enormous industrial building at 17-17 Troutman St. in the Ridgewood section of Queens, with Bushwick, Brooklyn just across the street. The loft residents were told to leave by the Department of Buildings and signs were posted saying that the building was "imminently perilous to life."

The center of the paparazzi universe might be the Waldorf Towers at 100 East 50th Street. That's because Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and their brood of children are renting a $100,000/month apartment at the hotel. The Post reports that the Jolie-Pitts "began recently living in a newly renovated, roughly 6,000-square-foot apartment" that has "five bedrooms plus a library that they have converted into a sixth, up to six baths and a huge gourmet kitchen." And there are terraces (plural!).

The Michelin Guide announced selections today for its third New York Edition, which officially goes on sale Wednesday.

Tonight, the Yankees will face off against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium, and many hope the Bronx Bombers can avoid the sweep (and mayflies) and claw their way back to winning this first round of playoff games. Since things are so nerve-wracking, we thought some Yankees fans - and even haters - might be find this Village Voice story funny.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual trauma at Pennsylvania and Flatlands Aves. in Brooklyn, a church robbery on West 31st St. in Manhattan, and a found DOA on Furman St. at the piers in Brooklyn.
• State officials are now thinking that the best way to reincarnate the glory days of the old Penn Station is not to build two office towers on top of the Farley Post Office building.
• They've arrested the man who allegedly beat and robbed 101-year-old Rose Morat, but cops are now searching for another man who did the same to a 79-year-old grandmother in the elevator of her apartment building in Queens.
• Since the rack rate of the average hotel room in NYC is now about $350 a night, perhaps it was inevitable that we would see the proliferation of illegal hotels.
• The Atlantic City Sands Casino will be imploded Vegas-style next month, with accompanying fireworks by Grucci and a laser light show.
• Staring down a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit, Gov. Spitzer is pledging to not increase state spending by more than 5.3% or so next year.
• Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani are both out of New York, remotely tugging over the mantle of 9/11 as their political legacy. Perhaps our next mayor will oversee the construction of something at the site of the World Trade Center.
• The number of New Yorkers on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans rose from 45 to 64, as that group's wealth jumped 370% from last year, to $224 billion. The city still has almost two million people living below the poverty line, however, so don't let the Forbes thing go to your head.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 1st Ave. and 92nd St. in Manhattan, a car vs. building on Liberty Ave. and Elton St. in Brooklyn, and a body found on East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx.
• Looking to avoid damaging snail- and e-mail trails or records of phone conversations, aides to Gov. Spitzer who are being investigated in the State Police scandal investigation are allegedly conversing only in person while driving around in black sedans.
• When an uncomfirmed threat arose regarding terrorists driving box trucks packed with nuclear materials to be exploded as dirty bombs in NYC, the NYPD went on high alert. MTA police who man the security at many of the city's bridges and tunnels were just handed radiation detectors and not told anything about what to look for, or even the existence of a threat.
• In order to improve crime stats and make schools appear safer, public school deans are often forbidden to call 911. In the case of a medical emergency like a stroke, one would think that common sense would override that prohibition, but unfortunately it didn't for one young student.
• Bette Midler's husband was briefly manhandled during Fashion Week by security guards who didn't recognize him because he is not a celebrity.
• Leona Helmsley cut two of her grandkids out of her will because they wouldn't visit the grave of their father and her son at least once a year. The other two grandkids received $10 million each.
• A 368-block section of Jamaica, Queens was set to be rezoned today in order to turn it into an airport transit hub, with 3 million square feet of development including hotels and residences.
• If you live in Brooklyn, do you know which police precinct you're in? Brooklyn.com has a list of all of them with a map and direct telephone numbers.

Unfortunately, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. Last night MTV took over the Strip and filled it with up and comers, the standard rock, rollers and rappers and of course...the token has beens.

Leona Helmsley sure loves Trouble. Trouble, her dog, that is. How much did Helmsley, the hotelier who was known by some as the "Queen of Mean" and passed away last week, love her pooch? Enough to leave the white Maltese $12 million in her will, more than she left four of her grandchildren. In addition to the $12 million trust, when Trouble dies, she'll be buried next to her former owner in the family mausoleum. The dog appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels and was usually seen by Helmsley's side in her later years.

Just after Ethan Hawke declared more love for the Hotel Chelsea and more fear about the changes there being the final nail in the coffin of "old New York," The Observer suspects his exes ex of helping to hold the hammer.

MOVIE: Bryant Park ends their summer of big screen fun with the classic horror flick Psycho - the movie that made many afraid to shower (and probably scared to check-in to hotels). Bring your best scream...and a blanket.

Leona Helmsley, whose conviction on tax evasion charges made her infamous beyond her repute as a hotelier and real estate developer, died today at age 87. She and her husband Harry Helmsley (who divorced his wife of 33 years to marry her) ran a $5 billion real estate empire that included the Empire State Building, 230 Park Avenue, Tudor-City, a number of hotels including the Park Lane, New York Helmsley, and Helmsley Palace, and much more.

Yesterday Merv Griffin lost his battle to prostate cancer at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 82. He received his first treatment for this in 1996 and in late July of this year it was publicized that the cancer had come back. In a statement on Merv.com his son Tony said: "My father was a visionary. He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized. We take solace in knowing that until the end he had his two favorites by his side--his family and his work. His legacy will be honored through the continuing operations of The Griffin Group under its current leadership and by the millions of lives he continues to affect through entertainment."