Cooper Square Hotel now sporting dead tree benches

Well, as the headline says, the Cooper Square Hotel now sporting dead tree benches...





Perhaps these are the remnants of the trees that were chopped down on Fifth Street next to the hotel back in April.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Why the trees were cut down on Fifth Street next to the Cooper Square Hotel

New shrubs for the Cooper Square Hotel

To help block out the noise? (Ha.) Or protect partygoers from the commoners on the street?

Ninth Precinct meets with residents to discuss quality-of-life issues surrounding the Cooper Square Hotel

Deputy Inspector Dennis Dequatro, commanding officer of the Ninth Precinct, met last night with local residents who are concerned about the ongoing quality-of-life issues surrounding the Cooper Square Hotel.

According to Dequatro, Cooper Square Hotel officials have called for a meeting with the Ninth Precinct. The call occurred after the NYPD, State Liquor Authority, Health Department and other agencies visited the hotel on July 2, Dequatro said. Several violations were found, though he couldn't recall the specifics at that moment. (According to public records, the Department of Health issued the hotel 45 violations during a visit on July 16.)

Before hooking up with the hotel, police officials wanted to hear complaints about the hotel firsthand from residents.

Dequatro quickly discussed the nearly four pages of stipulations (they begin on Page 7 here) that the hotel agreed to in order to get CB3 to approve the liquor license. And Dequatro explained the difference between laws and stipulations, which are really just a civil agreement. Or something. If there's a violation of the stipulations, then the only recourse is to notify the State Liquor Authority (SLA), who will take it under advisement.

"Other agencies have allowed [the hotel] to open a business next to your windows," Dequatro said. "It's not going to be an easy thing to enforce...to correct. We can't work magic."

The residents, nearly 20 total (also in attendance -- Stuart Zamsky, head of the East Fifth Street Block Association, and Susan Stetzer, CB3 district manager) then chimed in with their stories.

One resident talked about the blowout this past Saturday afternoon on the hotel's increasingly notorious 21st-floor penthouse, apparently available for private events. The thump-thump-thump was deafening down on Fifth Street, the resident said. "No one could stand out there there without getting their eardrums blown out." When she went to complain, a hotel hostess dismissed her with the wave of a hand, she said.



Regarding the Saturday bash, another resident said he went to the hotel to complain, but no one would summon the manager for him. Anyway, the employee told the resident that he couldn't do anything because the hotel was paid $20,000 for use of the penthouse.

Another party raged Sunday night until 11, a resident said. A Sixth Street occupant said, "You get girls screaming off the penthouse. I can hear what the DJ is saying." And she lives on the first floor.

While Dequatro is aware of noise issues from the balcony and back garden, he was surprised to hear about the 21st-floor penthouse. "I wasn't aware this space existed until 10 minutes ago," he said. Some residents said that they were never told about plans for a penthouse during community meetings with hotel officials before the Cooper Square opened.



Meanwhile, down below: One Sixth Street garden-level resident said hotel guests throw cigarette butts and trash over the fence and into her yard.

Dequatro took the names of any residents willing to let the NYPD into their homes with sound meters during a hotel penthouse party (or elsewhere). However, the NYPD sound meters can't measure the bass coming from the speakers on the penthouse -- a source of many of the residents' complaints. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has the sound meters for this, though that agency, with a smaller staff, takes longer to respond, Dequatro said.

No date has been set for a meeting between the Ninth Precinct and the hotel.

In the end, Dequatro said he knew what residents were going through. "I understand that there are frustrations...I understand that there are tensions."

For further reading:
Residents discuss the problems created by the Cooper Square Hotel: Meanwhile, across the street, a party for a sports car (EV Grieve)

Notes from the Backside (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Party at Cooper Square Hotel (EV Grieve)

The Cooper Square Hotel "doesn’t just stick out among the nearby tenements but more or less taunts them"

In the Times today. From Frank Bruni's review of Table 8 at the Cooper Square Hotel:

It’s the Cooper Square Hotel, a whimsical glass sliver that doesn’t just stick out among the nearby tenements but more or less taunts them, declaring them holdovers from a frumpier East Village past. The hotel tries to claim the neighborhood around it as a party zone on a homogenously slick, glossy par with South Beach or West Hollywood.

Not all the neighbors are amused. Some have responded to the din of chatter and generic lounge music coming from the hotel’s second-floor terrace by hanging dirty briefs and the like from a clothesline readily visible to the revelers. It’s a campaign of undermining by underwear.

I spotted only one sad, fluttering garment on the evening when I ate on Table 8’s street-level patio. And it did less to ruffle my serenity — the patio is a pretty, breezy treat — than the door that crashed into the back of my chair when someone decided to step outside. Placing a table for diners smack in the door’s way exemplifies the curious planning at which Table 8 excels.

And the sound level inside Table 8? "absolutely bonkers" and "excruciating."

And make sure to read the part about the wine in the restrooms.

Party at Cooper Square Hotel

Jill left a comment yesterday about a party she attended at the Cooper Square Hotel. Thought you may enjoy it.

The party was in the 21st floor suite. As far as hotel suites go it was nothing, and let me tell you I've seen a lot of them in lots of cities. Except for the view it was pretty vanilla. They took out the furniture so maybe with furniture it might be better, but really... The giant wraparound deck had no cover from the sun/rain, nor was there furniture out there either (again, maybe for the party they took it out.)

De rigeur slidy wood floors, big windows, very plain "minimalist" I suppose but to me it looks forlorn. The one couch was so wide you coudn't sit back without putting all your legs on it, which is not a good look at a party. I was the only one sitting/perching.

Tiny elevators with a very very long wait. In fact, they mixed the guests in with the party goers so the people who were paying hotel guests couldn't get to their rooms in a reasonable amount of time.

An elevator load of party goers had an argument with one worker when we couldn't get to the 21st floor via elevator, and then they wouldn't let us up the stairs from the 20th floor. He accused us of wanting to sneak in - this to a group of fairly middle aged people in business clothes. Ha! He threatened to call security. I begged him to call security. A handiman we ran into fixed the elevator to bring us up.

When I was leaving there were a few young people hanging around the front desperately trying to get in, and the bouncer wouldn't let them through. There was absolutely nothing for them inside, but they sure thought they were missing something, only because they weren't allowed in.

Walking by the Cooper Square Hotel is always good for a photo opp

Last night.

And now, a short history of walking by the Cooper Square Hotel!















Now you see it...



...now you don't.

A quick follow-up to Tuesday night's Cooper Square Hotel meeting

As you know, on Tuesday night, the East Fifth Street Block Association had a community meeting with Matthew Moss, principal of the Peck Moss Hotel Group, the developer of the Cooper Square Hotel. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and raise any concerns about the hotel's impact on the neighborhood. Several community leaders were in attendance, including CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer and SLA & DCA Licensing Chair Alexandra Militano. I asked Stuart Zamsky, head of the East Fifth Street Block Association, two questions in a follow-up e-mail.

I wanted to get your thoughts on how you think the meeting went. Do you think some progress was made?

I think the meeting went well. I think the community was civil yet persuasive. And, I think that Stetzer and Militano were great assets who were clear and decisive in their thoughts. And, I think it sank in to the hotel/Matt.

The one thing that was missing (and has been missing from the whole process) is a strong showing by 207 [E. Fifth St.] residents. This was their strongest showing yet, but it was too little too late. I am dumbfounded at their lack of verve and participation, considering what they have at stake.

What were you thoughts when you saw the party afterwards at the Cooper for the $280,000 DBS Volante Convertible?

The cause of the party did not faze me. It's a ritzy hotel and will host high-end clients for special events. Rich/poor...that's NYC. That it went on too late, in a noisy fashion, and seemed unstoppable is worrisome.

Claim: Tuesday night's DBS Volante Convertible party at the Cooper Square Hotel "brought enough complaints to bring in the police"

Just a quick follow-up to yesterday's Cooper Square Hotel post. I wanted to highlight two comments that came in later last night.



Anonymous said...
Just for the record, one of the stipulations of the hotel liquor license is, that given its proximity to to an assisted living facility and residential apartment building, the garden is to be "a quiet gathering place for patrons and guests." Last night's event brought enough complaints to bring in the police. When residents went to inquire for the hotel manager as recommended by Matt Moss at the meeting, she was "unavailable."


Goggla said...
I hate to think what will happen the next time one of those senior residents needs an ambulance (which I see there regularly), only to have it circle the block because the wagon train of limos is blocking the entrance.

Also, I reviewed the photos that I took.... I found these. As I recall, the young man in the backpack wanted to take a closer look at the Aston Martin on display. And why not?



So he looked around for a moment and decided to unhook the velvet rope and go in where the invite-onlys were congregating.



The security guard was on him in a second. The guard was ready to push him out the way he came in...



But the other security guard interjected and suggested that the young man be taken out properly through the hotel.



The security guards that I saw were much more tolerant of guests taking drinks onto the sidewalk to use their cell phones.

Residents discuss the problems created by the Cooper Square Hotel: Meanwhile, across the street, a party for a sports car

Last night, nearly 50 residents convened at the JASA/Green Residence to discuss concerns the impact that the Cooper Square Hotel has had on the neighborhood. (Jeremiah has been on the story with his must-read Notes from the Backside series.)



The event was organized by the East Fifth Street Block Association. Matthew Moss, principal of the Peck Moss Hotel Group, the developer of the $115 million Cooper Square Hotel, was there to field questions from the audience. Stuart Zamsky, head of the East Fifth Street Block Association, ran the meeting along with Carrie Schneider, whose apartment is a few feet away from the Cooper Square Hotel's much-discussed second-level bar area. CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer was in attendance as was a representative from the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. (I was a few minutes late, and missed all the introductions.)



The meeting started cordially enough. There was talk about the smoke coming from the fireplace in the ground-floor library. "We will not use the fireplace until we figure out this smoke issue," Moss said. That was easy. Next!

Then the discussion turned to the contentious second-floor outdoor patio (there is no actual bar outside — guests can drink in the space, though). Although the patio officially closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 10 p.m. on Thursday and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday [UPDATE: These hours are incorrect — see the comments for the hours of operation], residents have said there are disturbed at all hours. For instance, guests have been able to access the area after hours and hotel employees have used the space as a breakroom to smoke and make cell-phone calls. Moss said that until the hotel can install a permanent gate at the landing of the main stairs leading to the terrace, a security guard has been hired to stand duty to prevent off-hour access. The presence of a security guard has helped curb some unwanted chatter, people thought.

Soon enough, though, things started to change. Maybe it was the increasingly warm community room in need of a breeze, the water fountain in the back that occasionally made a clanging noise...or maybe people were just tired of Moss mumbling. Every few sentences, people had to ask for him to speak up. It didn't help that Moss, an awkward public speaker, acted at times like a fraternity brother being scolded by his housemother for not picking up his dirty clothes.

"It sucks for the people who are here," Zamsky said of all the problems the hotel has created for residents. "It's not good."

Moss, who was prone to squirming, tugging at his lip and — a few times — rolling his eyes, said at one point, "There's nothing else for me to say. The responsibility lies with me... Anything I say is going to sound like an excuse."



Fifth Street residents talked about the lack of parking spaces now available to them and the limos that line up in the evenings. One woman in a wheelchair said their families can't find a place to park when they come to town for a visit. "You have nothing but excuses! You have created another problem for us."

Said Moss, "I don't doubt for a second that the hotel has some negative impact on the community. I'm also of the belief that there is some good that comes from" our presence. He didn't offer what that was.

Moss also said that the hotel has offered to pay to soundproof the windows for residents at 207 Fifth St. who are adjacent to the hotel and have suffered the most since the patio opened last month. "That's not a perfect solution," he admitted.

A representative from Scott Stringer's office, who arrived late, confirmed that Moss met with Stringer yesterday morning and put it in writing that the hotel is willing to pay to soundproof windows. [CORRECTION: The representative from Scott Stringer's office, Greg Kirschenbaum, did not indicate that Borough President Stringer met with Moss: he stated that Moss had reached out to him to offer the soundproofing and that Moss then provided that offer in writing. Stringer did not meet with Moss. We apologize for the error in reporting.] One problem, though: The landlord of 207 Fifth St. is not receptive to such an idea.

One resident said soundproofing windows just wasn't good enough. "You have a public space out there. There are public spaces such as libraries where even homeless people that hang out know you have to be quiet." He mentioned that management should tell the hotel guests to whisper while they're on the patio. Continued the resident, "The other thing about soundproof windows: You're suggesting that the people who live there will never want to open their windows."

The residents had more to say.



Moss looked as if he wanted to shrink inside his blue blazer. He was unprepared. He had no noticeable personality. He lacked the diplomatic skills necessary for the hospitality industry — or any industry. He had no answers to questions about the noise complaints and other quality-of-life issues raised during the meeting. "I don't know...We need to figure out how to make it work," he said. He wouldn't offer a timetable for possible solutions to the noise. "I don't even know what the solutions are going to be."

Someone mentioned the tactics used by residents to retaliate against the noise. "I don't think it's really relevant," Moss snapped. Another resident asked about the secret nightclub that was going to open in the Cooper Square Hotel. "It's not going to be a nightclub," Moss said. He called it a "supper club," which will be in the basement. "I'd be surprised if it happened this year," he said.

At this point, you get the idea. To be honest, so much was discussed during the 75-plus minutes that I was at the meeting. I didn't capture every complaint, every name, every possible solution from calling 311 to the hotel manager on duty. But I had a good snapshot of what has been happening to the residents living adjacent to the hotel. So I left.



I started thinking about the hardships that I heard that night. The woman in the wheelchair whose family can't find a place to park to visit her. The residents being kept up by the party-going hotel guests. I thought about the older man who cared enough to show up at the meeting with a sign of protest against the hotel. Later, he fell asleep in the back of the room near an open door.

So I walked out of the JASA/Green Residence, which faces the south side of the Cooper Square Hotel. And what was there waiting for all the concerned residents exiting the meeting?



An invitation-only party thrown by the 100 Thousand Club and Aston Martin to unveil the DBS Volante Convertible.

Just to spell this out for myself. The co-owner of the Cooper Square Hotel agreed to meet with concerned local residents about noise complaints and quality-of-life issues on the same night that his hotel was throwing a party for a $280,000 sports car.

The crowd was tan and fit. They all looked so happy with drinks in hand. (Jeremiah also witnessed the party: He has much more on the scene.)





Guests took turns sitting inside the car for photo opps.



A few of the residents who attended the meeting stood on the sidewalk by the Cooper's outdoor patio with incredulous looks on their faces. One man ran back inside to ask Moss if he was aware there were 200 people partying behind the hotel.



I saw three different people leave the patio and enter the sidewalk with drinks. The security on duty only seemed concerned with the non-guests gawking on the sidewalk. One guest walked east a few buildings on Fifth Street. He hiked his khaki-clad leg up on a railing while holding a bottle of Stella and talking on his cell phone. Meanwhile, chauffeured town cars double-parked on Fifth Street. Other cars idled in front of fire hydrants.



One driver shrugged off the threats of a resident who asked him to move. He continued talking on his cell phone.



By the way, the only time Moss ever offered an apology last night occured after he was asked to speak up so the people in the back of the room could hear him.

For further reading:
Raging Against the Coop: the Developer/Neighbor Faceoff (Eater)

Saturday at the Cooper Square Hotel

Someone standing around told me this was a shoot for a music video.





DNA the band?

Not this DNA, of course.

Another big scoop by the Post!

These guys are a news-gathering machine! No need for any credit on where the story originated!

Busy Saturday for Cooper Square construction

Busy Saturday on Cooper Square. Construction all around...

At the Cooper Square Hotel:






At 2 Cooper Square:



At the Cooper Union:




P.S.
A little CBGB nostalgia on Fifth Street: