Monday, August 8, 2016

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel



Plans to bring a 300-room hotel to East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue are progressing.

On Thursday, the Lighthouse Group filed permits with the city to demolish five buildings — 112 to 120 E. 11th St. — that will yield to the new property.

So basically everything from the Village Pourhouse building on Third Avenue to the building housing Amsterdam Billiards on the corner of Fourth Avenue will come down... if everything receives the proper approvals.



Back in May, The Real Deal reported that Lighthouse had plans for the new property, with Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels serving as the brand.

Per that article:

Moxy, the new Marriott brand which is targeting millennials with lower prices and a youthful vibe.

In early 2015, the company said it expected to spend $1 billion to develop four Moxy hotels in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, and one in Los Angeles. Lightstone will spend another $1 billion on other Moxy projects around the country.

Two other Moxy projects in Manhattan are a proposed 36-story, 343-key hotel at 105 West 28th Street in Chelsea, and a 16-story, 618-key hotel at 485 Seventh Avenue, south of Times Square.

The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street property is expected in late 2018...


[Click to go big]

To date, there aren't any plans on file for the hotel. So there isn't any word how large this development will be.

The Lightstone Group paid Pan Am Equities $127 million for the portfolio, which includes 85 E. 10th St. That building isn't expected to be part of the new development.

Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, De Blasio. Keep on doing what you do well: Which is nothing.

Gojira said...

This is simply criminal. 5 lovely, kept up, small-scale buildings meant for long-term residency to be demolished for a cheap hotel for transients? When did people who actually want to LIVE here get demoted to the bottom rung of the real estate ladder, and why is no one standing up for us?

Anonymous said...

At some point Manhattan is going to be one big theme park. The irony is that it'll be under water in 100 years.

Scuba Diva said...

Okay, I'll say it: just shoot me now.

Anonymous said...

Wow, just wow... Welcome to hell square north

Whoo

blue glas said...

first they went after individual tenants
then they moved to entire buildings
now they're looking at whole blocks
greed always needs more and is never satisfied
this is unimaginable


sam_the_man said...

Wow. Are the buildings totally empty now, then? There had to have been some controlled or stabilized tenants that would have had to be bought out...

Anonymous said...

Another reason I moved to the Hudson Valley. The city has become something I had never imagined in the decades that I lived there...

raplhy said...

That sucks

Anonymous said...

Is it too late for East Village residents to stop this? I don't remember this ever coming up at Community Board meetings. Shouldn't the public be given the chance to weigh in when this many apartments are disappearing from the block and the neighborhood?

Anonymous said...

This means the developers will be putting more pressure going forward on local and state officials to saturate the East Village with more retched sports and theme bars to appeal to these millennial hotel guests. This area is no longer mid-town south it will be Times Square East.

Anonymous said...

How is it possible to have emptied all of these buildings? Not a single rent stabilized tenant?

Unbelievable.

Similar thing happened on the Upper East Side, on Second Avenue in the 80s - five buildings (3 contiguous on one block and 2 contiguous on the next block) were torn down, to be replaced by luxury high-rises.

Absolute proof that landlord claims of rent protected tenants everywhere is completely bogus.

Richard said...

Pete Seeger used to live at 118 East 11th Street in his brother's apartment, as described here:

http://bedfordandbowery.com/2014/01/pete-seeger-the-east-village-and-the-frat-house-for-musical-revolutionaries/

Every time another big demolition is announced I always think it's the fatal blow to the area...but this one is huge.

Anonymous said...

@Gojira: You said it and you said it better than I could have.

Who decided that this neighborhood was to be de-stabilized by making it all about transients, and not about any long-term residents who actually care about more than how many feet they have to crawl to get to the next bar on the block?

Somebody sold us out big-time, and they're laughing all the way to the bank.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, did this ever get a fair hearing? Where are the council people and the mayor on this! We already have a hotel at 4th Avenue and 13th St. Midtown South indeed. Ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Too bad that hunk of shit called Webster Hall isn't being demolished.

Anonymous said...

The Council Member & Assembly Member have nothing to say about this? More hotels, less voters for them.

Anonymous said...

Step 1: Tear down all of the old apartments
Step 2: Tear down the hospital
Step 3:Build hotels and sports bars

Whoooo!!!

Unknown said...

Heartbreaking

K/d0 said...

i have to think moves like this hurt everyone except the developers and eventual hotel owners. locals suffer by the impact on rents from a reduced supply, businesses suffer because i cant imagine that tourists can supply a more dependable stream of business than locals (especially when you consider that locals bring nearby friends to local hangouts, tourists do not), finally, the income taxes of people living and working in those apartments i would think has to outstrip whatever hotel room taxes are collected. all-in-all just utter insanity to think the area benefits from what amounts to an over-priced hostel.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know who to contact to voice our opposition? Is it councilwoman Rosie Mendez, or someone at the Dept of Bldgs?

Mike Diaz said...

These are policies stemming from 12 years of Bloomberg. DiBlasio, although a do-nothing, is not at fault. I'm a firm believer of credit and blame where it's due

Mike Diaz said...

It's sad. I'm all for change but gradual change. These huge developers are tearing up giant swaths of land and destroying the very hung that people come in search of. It's pathetic. Jack Kerouac had an analogy about the sadness of the American West, in his book, ON THE ROAD. It really is sad that it's happening here too.

Anonymous said...

How dare you. De Blasio is creating affordable, luxury hotel rooms for the people. It's impossible to find a $400 a night lodging in 11th Street. Now it will be possible.

cmarrtyy said...

This is all about the arrogance of one party rule. All our elected officials are controlled by the party. This is what the Party wants. The Party wants campaign contributions. The Party wants jobs to keep the population quiet even though good jobs are leaving the city and are being replaced by low pay service industry jobs. All this to win elections. Nothing for the middle class which pays the taxes. And Mayor Bill, the head of the Party says he wants to increase the affordable housing stock but yet he allows one building after the next filled with the middle class living in affordable housing to be emptied and replaced by condos/coops for the wealthy. And where is the local press. The Villager is a waste. They only print obits. and stories about Rays. Why bother being a newspaper. You have to ask hard questions. You have to put pressure on politicians. You have to ask them what they are doing for their constituents! But what we have to do as individuals is to call, write, text email our local politicians... day in/ day out and ask them how could this happen? What can be done about it? Why did this project get this far? We have to start... We have to start today!

Carol from E. 5th Street said...

LIttle by little what made the East Village so unique is disappearing. Next they'll be opening an Olive Garden on my corner.

Perhaps this venue is too far north for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation to be involved. They have fought vigorously for preserving the Village culture including fighting the Godzilla known as NYU. If everyone concerned (like those who have written above) would contact them to ask for their help we at least might stand a chance to fight this devastating project. I intend to do just that.

It feels great to complain and vent but words are just that. It's action that gets results. We really need to organize to fight the destruction of the East Village we know and love. I'm not a leader but a joiner and a worker. Anyone out there up for the fight?

Anonymous said...

Don't worry displaced tenants, you can join the next 100,000 people in a lottery for a handful of so-called affordable apartments.

How many more hotels does the city need? There are several recently built hotels in Brooklyn and Queens that are turning into homeless shelters. It doesn't look like Airbnb is going to be reined in anytime soon, and the East Village has one of the highest concentrations of Airbnb rentals. These developers act like there is a never ending supply of wealthy young hip people flocking to NYC. When it all crashes, they'll go crying to the government for tax breaks and bailouts.

Anonymous said...

You can thank the Federal Reserve for flooding the planet with cheap money. It will keep pouring into Manhattan real estate.

Anonymous said...

Horrible.
There are no laws against this ?
The Community Board ? Anyone ?
Who has heard of this before ?
How is this allowed ?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Anonymous said...

Quelle merderie

Anonymous said...

Like the Death Star building on Astor Place, this construction will cause a deep cut (not as deep, but a good sized chunk) into the character of the EV which will just help turn it along with the LES into Midtown South. A soulless lifeless wonderless nothing-to-look-at boring blah awful place to just want to die in.

Anonymous said...

I lived here! They didn't renew any of our leases. I heard they bought out everyone that was rent-controlled. The building was falling apart though, we constantly woke up without heat or hot water, but obviously they didn't want to make repairs when it was going to be demolished. So strange to be the last tenants. Can't wait to see how this shakes out.

Conan1982 said...

Scum.

Sarah said...

What's the approval process from here on out, does anyone know?

Anonymous said...

Blame for this goes squarely on Bloomberg, who just couldn't fuck this city over enough in his 12 years in office. It may not be criminal, but it OUGHT to be criminal, to destroy low-rise housing on a side-street this way. We already have the stupid hotel at 13th & 4th Ave., plus those precious 8 units of super-priced luxury housing going up at 10th St. & 4th Ave., and now another hotel mid-block on 11th?

You know how you can be sure the fix was in? Because the brokers started to say "Midtown South" and lookie what we got now: the once-livable and charming East Village IS becoming a non-neighborhood - truly Times Square East or Midtown South. DISGUSTING.

Anonymous said...

@12:27pm: GVSHP is itself located on 11th Street, about a block from where this hotel atrocity is happening - but if what's being done is within zoning laws, how do you expect that they can stop it? Andrew Berman is, IMO, a super-man who has gotten a TON of protections passed for this area. Please don't blame GVSHP in any way on this; if you want to phone them, their number is 212 475-9585, and they will fill you in and advise you on possible action.

chris flash said...

The mere filing of demolition permits (as of now still not approved) does not mean that this is a done deal.

There is more than one way to STOP this:

• Zoning restrictions that do not allow new construction any higher or more dense than what already exists
• Landmarking the entire block
• Organizing politically and holding the feet of our so-called "representatives" to the fire.

Caleo said...

I do wish folks would wake up. Everyone here makes themselves feel better by venting in the comments section, which of course has no impact on the real estate industry in any way.
Developers and their lackeys in city and state government are 10 steps ahead of all of us. they are already sizing up other blocks that you won't find out about until next year or the year after. These forces have had a vision of the city in place for more than 20 years and have never hidden their plans from the public. They are radically transforming the whole island of Manhattan, and it's not going to stop because you go to a cute little protest march or you comment on this blog or you harangue your local councilperson.
For every day that all of us focus on our lives and personal interests developers are looking at any and every building that has any potential to be flipped or developed for money.
That's all they do, and they won't stop. Some of you seem to think the GVSHP or tenants association can stop this, but you can't. You may throw a few pebbles in their path for awhile, but eventually they continue.
Sorry to sound defeatist, but we are all passive observers to a leviathan that is completely blind to our feelings and memories.
There is simply too much money to be made to let sentiment get in the way. I don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Anonymous said...

@ 2:59 PM. How does the buck stop with bloomberg? deblasio has beeb in office two years. his interests seem directly related to his contributors, witness the cartiage house and rivington house.

Giovanni said...

Do you remember that giant glass dome they used to say would one day cover most of New York so that the weather would be perfect every single day? I think we're almost there.

Anonymous said...

See DNA Info. GVSHP tried.

Anonymous said...

@4:44pm: Who do you think had the vision of Manhattan as being for the young and rich? BLOOMBERG. He made no secret of it; he said not everyone should be entitled to live in Manhattan.

He smoothed the path for his billionaire-developer friends - did you ever notice during his tenure as mayor that he was trying to get MORE things landmarked, or prevent super-expensive high-rises, or genuinely get significantly more affordable housing built? NO, because he did none of that.

The middle class was/is expendable to Bloomberg; the poor are there to be worker bees to clean up after the ultra-rich.

DeBlasio is not covering himself with glory either, as the Rivington deal shows. But with DeBlasio, I chalk it up to him being lousy at his job overall, plus having $$ donated to him by real estate interests (and let's face it, real estate interests give $$ to just about EVERY candidate - they know which side their bread is buttered on!).

IMO, if it weren't for Bloomberg, you would not see such brazen behavior by developers and landlords. He made it clear what his "vision" of Manhattan was, and he enabled that vision to be carried out. We are living with the outcome of his decisions.

The fact that it is USELESS to appeal to ANY of our elected officials at ANY level in NYC government about these building and development issues tells me everything I need to know about who really runs NYC: the developers have got it bought & paid for.

blue glass said...

mayor koch said "if you can't afford to live in the city, move".

Scuba Diva said...

At 6:57 PM, Anonymous said:

@4:44pm: Who do you think had the vision of Manhattan as being for the young and rich? BLOOMBERG. He made no secret of it; he said not everyone should be entitled to live in Manhattan.

But you know who said that before Bloomberg? Ed KOCH said that not everyone deserved to live in a world-class city like New York, and he said this in the 70s.

I just spent some time trying to find the quote from him, because he was known for wanting—fairly or unfairly—to elevate the status of New York, but mostly what I could find about him was his obit and a bunch of tribute pages.

Jeff said...

Who said "if you can't afford it, move."? Koch, Giuliani, Bloomberg... weve had a lot of bullshit mayors, and DiBlasio is just another.

deva said...

This neighborhood is already overrun with hotels and tourists so intensely that I now officially can't enjoy my own neighborhood, but now they want to put even more hotels and tourists here? Fuck you, you fuckin fucks. It's time to start directing our anger, together. Carol, I'm with you.

Anonymous said...

@Scuba Diva: Yes, but the difference is that when Koch said that in the 70's (and yes, I was living here then), THE famous headline was "Ford to NYC: DROP DEAD" and frankly you couldn't GIVE some of these neighborhoods away at that time. I personally always have considered NYC a world-class city, even in its so-called "worst days" of the 1970's. But in the 70's, I had friends who lived on the UES who wouldn't visit me here b/c "it's too dangerous below 14th Street".

I enjoyed being young, then middle-aged, and now a senior citizen here in the East Village. Which is why Bloomberg's "vision" of a utopia for super-rich and tourists pisses me off so much.

NYC was more than good enough the way it was back then - it was a vibrant and interesting place with a zillion quirky businesses. I remember when the museums were FREE, and when the buses were also FREE on Sundays. It was a great time to be here, and very, very different than the least-common-denominator crap (like wall-to-wall bars) that we have to deal with now. I honestly prefer the old days of "Bowery bums" to the bro's and crusties we are saddled with these days.

deva said...

To Gojira: You're right and I think we demoted ourselves when we didn't actively push back and demand better. These are rich outsiders coming in and pushing us out of our own lives here. No. It's time that they get pushed out.

Anonymous said...

I am utterly speechless. And DISGUSTED. THE NYC I grew up in is gone. Welcome to Basic Bitch City. DiBlasio SUCKSSSSSSsssssss.

James Romberger said...

This sort of thing is possible precisely because so many of the people who don't like it are afraid to sign their names to their comments here---a bunch of "anonymous" residents who make up a cowardly community that will lose all ground.

Chanterelle said...

This is going on all over the city, folks. Our current mayor may not be entirely to blame for accelerated gentrification, but he's certainly in thrall to the developers. Wherever the fault may lie, the pushback needs to be organized and requires a serious, sustained grass roots effort--hand-wringing online does nothing.

Here on the UWS we actually won a recent battle thanks to the agency of LandmarkWest!, who kept neighbors focussed writing letters and attending meetings of CB7, LPC, and BSA, and to a top-notch (and expensive) land-use attorney who represented the community opposition before the buildings department--you think earnest letters and spoken testimony before city agencies are enough? Think again. It took sustained individual efforts and hefty out-of-pocket contributions to legal fees from neighbors who had a stake in the outcome, under the ad hoc leadership of dedicated individuals who put in unbelievable amounts of work. Does the neighborhood have the will to do what it takes?

Anonymous said...

These neighbors who ponied up the cash for the attorney? Are they trying to save the neighborhood or are they acting to keep their property values high? I just dont see a lot of the NIMBYism as altruistic- sorry. If supply and demand continues as it is there will be more competition and multiple bidders for the condos/coops/buildings these people own. So its bad for people to cash in and leave a Mitchell- Lama building but its ok to want everything landmarked and stop construction so their property becomes more valuable? Then the apts that do get built are 4k a month. I guess if you're a rent stablilized lifer you don't care except to complain about the new residents who are a result of action you approve of.

bjs said...

Pan Am Equities--a familiar name to those who protested the eviction (by tripling of the rent) of the Associated supermarket on West 14th St. $127 million is pocket change to them. And the lives of former tenants? Worthless.

richard sandler said...

oh yes and, yug a muppie...

VP said...

There is a rally and protest against this on Monday at 12:30 PM August 23rd, more here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/618231475016911/

Scuba Diva said...

Help! You know today is Monday the 22nd, right?