Another rally to protest the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street

As we've been documenting, workers have started the demolition process at 112-120 E. 11th St., where a 300-room hotel is coming for Marriott's Moxy brand.

There's another protest now planned tomorrow evening here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Here are details via the EVG inbox...

Please join GVSHP, union and labor groups, preservationists and neighbors this Wednesday, October 19 at 5:30 pm in front on 112-120 East 11th Street to protest the city’s approval of demolition of these five 19th century Beaux-Arts tenements which formerly housed long-term tenants in affordable housing. These five buildings were ruled “landmark-eligible” by the city in 2008, and yet this summer when they faced the threat of demolition and GVSHP urged they be protected, the city refused, claiming they no longer qualified for landmark status.

What changed? Nothing about the buildings – only the ownership. The buildings had been purchased by the Lightstone Group, whose head was a major campaign contributor to and political ally of Mayor de Blasio, whom he had recently appointed to the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

In spite of the Mayor’s purported dedication to affordable housing, he is allowing the buildings to be demolished to make way for a ‘millennials’-oriented Moxy Hotel. And in spite of the Mayor’s purported commitment to organized labor, the developer has been using companies on the project with a history of wage theft, unsafe practices, and mistreatment of workers, and the demolition and construction as well as the planned hotel will use non-union labor. As a result, organized labor is joining us in our campaign against this development, which we also protested this August.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

There will be several eating-drinking choices at the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street

Chipping away 112-120 E. 11th St. to make way for a Moxy hotel

Chipping away 112-120 E. 11th St. to make way for a Moxy hotel

Sounds of demolition have been coming from inside 112-120 E. 11th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... as you know, these five former residential buildings are coming down to make way for a 13-story hotel for Marriott’s Moxy brand.

From the street it's difficult to tell just what's going on inside here... But from above...an EVG tipster shared these photos ...




[Click to go big]

...our tipster said that this "roof stripping" has been going on all week...



To date, we haven't seen any renderings for this 300-room hotel aimed toward the Millennial set. Stonehill & Taylor are the architects of record. They designed the one going up in Chelsea.

For some idea of what we might be in for here... check out the rendering for the West 28th Street location...


[Rendering by Stonehill & Taylor]

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

There will be several eating-drinking choices at the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street

There will be several eating-drinking choices at the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street

As we first reported last week, the Lightstone Group has filed new building permits for the Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels brand at 112-120 E. 11th St.

The 13-story hotel between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue is set to be 78,361 square feet. (About 250 square feet per room, per New York Yimby.)

Taking a deeper dive into the new building permit ... the Schedule A shows a lounge in the hotel's basement along with an "eating and drinking establishment with accessory terrace." The application also shows a lounge and another eating and drinking establishment on the first floor/lobby (not sure if these are connected) ... as well as a "grab n go" food and drink space. There's also another bar-restaurant planned for the top floor.



The number of eating-drinking choices in the hotel seems to fit the social Moxy brand. Per their website:

Moxy is a boutique hotel with the social heart of a hostel. A free-spirited place where you can do all that crazy fun stuff you’d never think of doing at home, together with likeminded spirits you’d otherwise never have met.

Yes, the WiFi is speedy and the cushy beds are freshly made, but more importantly, the bar is always open and the crew is always on. Whether you’re staying for the night or just a nightcap, you’ll see why it’s no place like home.

We know, we know. It’s a tough gig, but, somebody’s gotta do it. For we are the #moxycrew, solemnly sworn to be up to no good #atthemoxy. 😁

A photo posted by Moxy Hotels (@moxyhotels) on Aug 22, 2016 at 9:04am PDT

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

112-120 E. 11th St. is wrapped and looking ready for demolition here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

And today, the Lightstone group has filed new building permits for the Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels brand.

Details from the permit:
• The hotel is 13 floors (120 feet)
• The plans show a 78,361-square-foot property with 311 rooms.

Stonehill & Taylor Architects (hotel specialists) are the architects of record. No sign of a rendering just yet for this property.

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

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

Scaffolding erected at soon-to-be-demolished 112-120 E. 11th St.

Workers yesterday finished wrapping up 112-120 E. 11th St. ahead of the demolition here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

As you know, the five buildings recently purchased by the Lightstone Group are giving way to a 300-room hotel with Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels serving as the brand.

No sign just yet of any new building permits for the address. The Real Deal originally reported that the property will encompass 85,000 square feet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

Sidewalk bridge arrives outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

The five buildings of 112-120 E. 11th St. took another step toward demolition with the arrival of a sidewalk bridge this week.

As we first reported on Aug. 8, the Lighthouse Group filed permits with the city to demolish the now-empty residential buildings to make room for a 300-room hotel for Marriott's Moxy brand.

Local elected officials, preservationists and residents have spoken out against the new development.

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who was unable to attend the rally outside the buildings on Aug. 22, released a statement later last week:

“It is disappointing that we are losing five buildings built in the late 1800s on East 11th Street that had affordable rent regulated apartments and instead we will have a hotel that will be architecturally out of character with our neighborhood. Unfortunately, given the real estate market and effects of gentrification, it is doubtful many of the former tenants can stay in the neighborhood. These Old Law Tenement buildings were considered “landmark eligible” in 2008 by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (“LPC”).

More disappointing is that for two months the LPC failed to respond when it was asked to designate these and neighboring buildings as a historic district since the buildings were in danger of being demolished. Losing affordable rent-regulated housing is unacceptable, but not getting a response from a city agency that once deemed these buildings to be landmark-worthy is outrageous.”

To date, workers have boarded up the windows on three of the buildings here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...



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

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

[Photo of 120 E. 11th St. from yesterday]

As previously reported, the five residential buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue are slated to be demolished to make way for a new hotel from the Marriott family.

Last week, workers began prepping No. 120 for asbestos removal... reps for the Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who have been monitoring the situation here, noted the poorly sealed windows late last week... (the windows were boarded up by the end of the day Saturday...)



The posted notice points to asbestos in the window caulking...



In addition, the GVSHP notes that the company landlord the Lightstone Group hired for the asbestos removal — the Queens-based New York Insulation Inc. — has a suspect past. The company is currently barred from bidding on public contracts. (The 11th Street work is not a public contract.)



In May 2012, the company pleaded guilty to failing to pay six employees more than $30,000 they were owed, according to published reports. The case involved rooftop work at Wheatley High School in Old Westbury, Long Island.

Per the Long Island Business News: "Along with the fines, New York Insulation and its principal, Anthony Cardinale, are prevented from bidding upon or being awarded any public work projects in the state of New York for five years."

New York Insulation Inc. appears on the New York State Department of Labor's "List of Employers Ineligible to Bid on or Be Awarded Any Public Work Contract." They are eligible again for public contracts starting in May 2020.

As a reminder, the GVSHP is holding a rally/protest outside 112-120 E. 11th St. In case you missed the invite notice from Friday:

Are you as angry as we are that the City is allowing five "landmark-eligible" 19th century buildings at 112-120 East 11th Street, which formerly contained long-term tenants and affordable housing, to be demolished to make way for a 300-room hotel geared towards globe-trotting millennials?

Are you as appalled as we are at the hypocrisy of the administration for refusing to save these buildings, which are being developed by a donor to and political appointee of the Mayor?

Are you disgusted by what this will mean for this block and this neighborhood?

Then join us on Monday, August 22 at 12:30 in front of 112-120 East 11th Street (3rd/4th Avenues) to protest the development and the City’s negligence and hypocrisy...

Updated 8:30 p.m.

Find rally coverage here

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

In June, local preservationists made their case to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue a historic district.

According to DNAinfo, this effort came about after the neighborhood groups learned in late May that the Lightstone Group had plans for a new hotel on the block.

However, the LPC ignored the request, according to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP). And, as we first reported yesterday, the Lighthouse Group has filed demolition permits with the city to take down five buildings — 112-120 E. 11th St. — to make way for a 300-room hotel aimed at millennials.

Representatives for GVSHP, the Historic Districts Council, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative and the East Village Community Coalition all signed the letter, dated June 9, addressed to LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan.

The letter reads in part (you can read a PDF of the letter here):

The buildings in the proposed district are a wonderfully intact ensemble of primarily early and late 19th century structures which are largely unchanged and representative of architectural styles of the era as well as the development of this section of the East Village. Building types within this small section of East 11th Street include tenements, tenementized row houses, a concert hall/community gathering place, a parochial school and a government building. These buildings housed, educated, entertained and served the working class and immigrant residents of this area. Thus the district perfectly captures and embodies the evolution and many facets of working class New York in the late 19th and early 20th century in the East Village.

112-120 East 11th Street
These are five Old Law tenement buildings located on the south side of East 11th Street and built between 1887 and 1892. Significantly intact, they were designed largely in the Beaux Arts style.

We asked Berman why the LPC didn't take any action on these buildings.

"I can only speculate," he said via email. "The LPC does not seem fond of expanding landmark designations these days, especially in Manhattan."

Anything left to do about this potential development?

"We are looking into whether or not every I was dotted and t crossed in terms of requirements for the tenants moving out," Berman said. "And we will continue to push for expanded landmark protections in the East Village, including in the remaining parts of this block." (They helped get Webster Hall landmarked across the street in 2006.)

Lighthouse is reportedly working with Marriott International's Moxy Hotels on the property. Reps haven't filed new building plans just yet. As we noted in yesterday's post, the Moxy website shows a late 2018 opening for the 11th Street hotel. (DNAinfo reported that residents have already been leaving No. 112-120.)

"This could have been worse," Berman said. "Before we got these blocks rezoned in 2010, you actually could have built a much bigger building here, and it would have been more likely a dorm. Don’t get me wrong, this is too big, and it’s bad. It could have been even bigger and badder, so to speak, however."

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

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

Back in late April, when news broke that the 6-building portfolio of 85 E. 10th St. and 112-120 E. 11th St. had been sold, an EVG commenter with some inside information left the following:

Lightstone will be demolishing the properties on 11th street beginning this year, and plans to develop a hotel there on behalf/with one of its hotel partners— most likely Marriott— to build one of their low-budget "hip" hotels, branded as "Moxy". They will be doing minor refurbishing to 85 East 10th Street, and then will look to unload it. They only bought the property because Pan Am required purchase of 85 E10th as part of the 112-120 E11th deal.

Hope they have an incredible budget for sound-proofing on this new development because staying across from Webster Hall is not the most conducive to the whole "sleeping" experience! Haha.

Yesterday, The Real Deal reported that the East 11th Street buildings between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue will be demolished to make way for a ... 300-room hotel with Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels serving as the brand.

The Lightstone Group paid Pan Am Equities $127 million for the portfolio.

Per TRD:

85 East 10th Street — which represented $75.4 million of the total purchase price — is not going to be part of the project. In fact, Lightstone wants to sell it, and hired a team from Meridian Capital Group to bring the 121-unit, 69,100-square-foot rental building to market.

There are other Moxy properties in the works at 105 W. 28th St. in Chelsea and 485 Seventh Ave. south of Times Square.

Reps for Lightstone haven't filed any new permits yet for the East 11th Street buildings.

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