The Standard East Village is leaking

And over at the Standard East Village today, workers were searching for the source of a leak...

Any ideas where it might be coming from...?

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Checking in on the CB3/SLA meeting: Standard East Village gains approval for alteration

Previously.

h/t @ShaneEvanDavis

Flyers urge residents to speak out against Standard East Village alteration

The Standard East Village is on tonight's CB3/SLA docket... Major alterations are in store for the hotel's public spaces on Cooper Square and East Fifth Street...... (We wrote about it here.)

Meanwhile, someone placed these flyers on buildings near the hotel... asking residents to speak out against the proposed changes...

Here's the diagram for the ground-floor space...

You can find the hotel's proposal (PDF) at the CB3 website here.

Big changes in the works for the Standard East Village lobby, outdoor space; Café on the Bowery anyone?

The Standard East Village is on Monday night's CB3/SLA agenda... and, based on the documents on file at the CB3 website (PDF), some major alterations are in store for the hotel's public spaces on Cooper Square and East Fifth Street...

The documents clearly spell out the plans (click on the images to enlarge)...

A few highlights if you don't feeling like looking at the documents:

• The Hotel plans to close the second-floor bar/terrace to convert it to a guest room (with terrace). (If approved, then the change should eliminate this from happening.)

• The Hotel plans to expand the lobby and take over half of the current garden space that lines East Fifth Street. (They are requesting a service bar in this space.) There will also be a lobby garden (with soundproofing).

• The Hotel plans to introduce Café on the Bowery outside the front entrance. This space will run from Hettie Jones' home (the tenement the former Cooper Square incorporated into the hotel) to the northern property line. They'd like a liquor license for this outdoor space (transferring the one from the to-be-shuttered second-floor lounge).

• The Hotel would like to extend the hours of the current restaurant garden space from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. In exchange, the Hotel will add a "retractable soundproofed temporary enclosure" to use during those hours.

How will the neighbors respond? The meeting is Monday at 6:30 at the JASA/Green Residence, 200 East Fifth Street — right across the street from the hotel...

On second thought, the Standard East Village didn't open a new restaurant this week (ping-pong — yes)

[UrbanDaddy]

On Wednesday, we posted that bit from UrbanDaddy about the Standard East Village debuting its new restaurant (The Restaurant at the Standard East Village) ... not to mention the outdoor ping-pong table.

Well, a reader left us this comment:

The hotel manager claims that the urbandaddy story is totally false; the standard has not finalized its plans for it's restaurant (ie he denies the ping pong concept.) certainly the standard's neighbors would not be happy with outdoor ping pong noise and hopefully the standard gets it.

We did a little checking ... while there is a ping-pong table for now (confirmed via this tweet) ... a newly rebranded restaurant has not opened.

In a blog post yesterday, "Stan D’Arde ... the perennial voice of The Standard Hotels" explained that UrbanDaddy's story was, well, wrong.

To Stan!

Listen…there is nothing more that I love than a game of ping pong coupled with a BLT Turkey Club or Pappardelle with Ragu Bolognese, Peas & Parmesan or a Pan Roasted Half Chicken with Rosemary Smashed Potatoes & Brussel Sprouts or Tomato Soup with Basil Oil and Cheddar Croutons.

BUT…painting the walls and dropping a ping pong table in for a little bit of fun doesn’t necessarily make for a grand opening ... if you revisit our original announcement when we took over the hotel, you’ll see that The Standard, East Village is a slow work in progress which will be completed over the next year. It will be quiet and intimate with food that not only is comforting but hopefully food coma inducing (I haven’t finalized the menu just yet).

I think that, when we’re officially ready to launch something, you’ll want to hear it first hand from me…and not your daddy, n’est-ce pas?

The Standard East Village's solution for making nice with neighbors: Outdoor ping-pong

André Balazs has been making the media rounds, discussing what a good neighbor the Standard East Village will be... As you know, the manager types at the former Cooper Square Hotel weren't so popular with nearby residents.

As Balazs told The Wall Street Journal: "It's a very residential community and they managed to make a design that pissed off the neighbors immediately. That's a mistake. That's not what we're going to be about."

Meanwhile, we heard from a few amused-horrified residents who passed along this link to a piece in UrbanDaddy yesterday about the new hotel's new restaurant. The Restaurant at the Standard East Village opens today. Aside from things like burgers ($15) and BLT turkey clubs ($12), the eatery sports an outdoor ping-pong table.

As only UrbanDaddy can do:

The vibe here: distinctly more laid-back than its MePa sibling. A little world wearier. Just a little readier to kick your ass and take your name at the patio ping-pong table that calls to you from among the wooden furniture and gardens.

We see you hustling the naive masses, lime-lingonberry-puree-infused cocktail in hand, in front of an awed crowd, giving a clinic on the art of topspin.

You know, keeping it low-key.

P.S. Here's the menu:

And now, photos of Rose McGowan in her room at the Standard East Village

Via her Twitter account.

Andre Balazs really wants to be a good neighbor

[June 2009]

In The Wall Street Journal today, Andre Balazs shares more insights about his plans for the Cooper Square Hotel The Standard East Village.

To an excerpt!

You said the previous owners "miscalculated." What do you consider their biggest mistakes?

The way it was developed and built was completely misconceived in terms of its use as a public space and in terms of its relation to the neighborhood. It's a very residential community and they managed to make a design that pissed off the neighbors immediately. That's a mistake. That's not what we're going to be about.

We're going to reorient in a different direction. By mid-fall it'll be open differently, with an emphasis on public spaces. Good hotels are a center of their community, and you can't be the center of a community if the person next door to you can't sleep.

André Balazs on his 'more quiet' Standard

Over at Grub Street today, Mara Siegler chats with hotelier André Balazs, who talks a bit about his latest property — the Cooper Square Hotel The Standard East Village. To the soundbites!

"It’s a more residential, more quiet — more introspective, if you will — Standard."

And!

"There will not be a nightclub, and the chef — we’re talking to a bunch of people now and it will be a very dramatic redesign of the space, but it won’t be a nightclub."

The Standard East Village now has an address for its fence

Oh, we just keep noticing the slightest changes/additions at the former Cooper Square Hotel since it became the Standard East Village... look, the hotel address is now on the fence too!

Cheerful people who can walk and stand for a long period of time wanted for the The Standard East Village restaurant

One of our Twitter friends sent us this Craigslist ad posted yesterday afternoon... the "open call" is tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m. at the former Cooper Square Hotel...

THE STANDARD, EAST VILLAGE is seeking experienced Servers, Bartenders, Barbacks, Bussers and Hosts for all shifts in our Restaurant.

Candidates must have experience in high volume restaurants, and steady work history.

About you:

• You have superb communication skills.

• You have a cheerful and outgoing personality.

• You have a sincere desire to serve guests

• You know how to be discreet.

• You are organized and can multi-task without breaking a sweat.

• You thrive in a stylish, fast-paced environment.

• You can walk and stand for a long period of time.

• You have knowledge of Micros.

• You have permission to work in the United States.

We seek highly social and confident individuals capable of relating to our fashion & media-based clientele and who will flourish in our hip, artistic, fast-paced, downtown environment. Our ideal candidate is experienced, reliable, upbeat and friendly; can handle pressure well; and thrives in a high volume, high energy environment.

To be considered please come to 25 Cooper Sq. Wednesday December 21st between 12-2pm to fill out an application and meet some of the team.

About us:
André Balazs Properties is a collection of innovative hotels and residences that provide distinctive experiences for today's traveler with discerning, confident tastes. Visionary hotelier André Balazs has conceived of a new generation of classic properties — soulful and utterly original — that have been established as unrivalled market leaders in the United States. Each is united not only by a carefully considered sense of place, but an unwavering commitment to detail, atmosphere and pioneering design.

The complimentary hotel bike wars, because it sounds controversial

Speaking of places to stay on the Bowery ... We keep noticing subtle changes at the newly christened Standard East Village... (Look winterizing!) The former Cooper Square Hotel now offers complimentary bikes to its guests...

[Bobby Williams]

(And you can watch a video about it here.)

Down the way, the Bowery Hotel introduced free bikes for guests in April 2009.

[Via]

Meanwhile, the Whitehouse is apparently no longer offering complimentary grocery carts...

2 sides of the Standard East Village today

Oh, on second thought, André Balazs only paid $67.5 million for the Cooper Square Hotel

And not the $91 million that was previously reported. This news comes via Roland Li at the International Business Times. Read it here.

Meanwhile, Goggla notes the end of the mural (Balazsification) on the side of the former Cooper Square Hotel... now called The Dradnats Standard East Village

The Shepard Fairey mural went up in April 2010.

Meanwhile, some fallout...

On a cloudy night, you can see...

EV Grieve reader 8E sends these along from last evening atop the Cooper Square Hotel The Standard East Village...

'Don't you think that André Balazs knows what's going in at the empty lot next door?'

Well you probably know that André Balazs bought the Cooper Square Hotel and is turning the joint into The Standard East Village.

So we were having an email exchange with an EV Grieve regular who was trying to sound upbeat about the sale. Maybe it won't be so bad, he or she tried. They said it will be "a more mellow alternative" to the bumping-and-grinding off the High Line, right?

Of course, you have to say those kinds of things now to appease the Community Board, neighbors, etc.

Then the reader said, or wrote: Don't you think that André Balazs knows what's going in at the empty lot next door?

Now that's an interesting question. Earlier this year, despite an outpouring of support for 35 Cooper Square, developer Arun Bhatia had the historic structure demolished to make way for whatever he has planned for the lot adjacent to the hotel off Sixth Street.

Bhatia hasn't said what's coming to the space. Most people assume it will be some condo/hotel/dorm complex with chain-store retail on the ground-floor and some nonprofit or community facility for good (tax) measure.

Anyway, as The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the fall, Balazs bought the Cooper Square Hotel for $90 million.

If you're putting out that much for the property, then you'll gonna want to know what your new neighbor will be.... some day.

Meanwhile, if André, "Stan" or anyone wants to send us a note to the tipline with any renderings or plans for the empty lot...

[Photo by Shawn Chittle.]

The Standard East Village makes it official; plus the Trilby sign is gone

On Friday morning, Page Six reported that André Balazs was ready to turn the Cooper Square Hotel into The Standard East Village.

Later on Friday, The Standard made it official on its website via a post by "Stan D’Arde," the "perennial voice of The Standard Hotels." Here's what "Stan" had to say ...

Let’s cut straight to the point. I know you have been hearing rumors that we at The Standard Hotels were bringing you, our Stan D’esirably loyal family, another property in New York City to call your own. Well, I’m here today to squash all those rumors and to give you the facts straight from the Stan’s mouth…

WE ARE VERY PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE 5TH ADDITION TO OUR STANDARD FAMILY WITH THE STANDARD, EAST VILLAGE!

There. I said it, and there’s no turning back.

Since you’re already part of our family, you know how very unique all of the siblings are. The Standard Hotels in Hollywood, Downtown LA, Miami and New York are each special in their own way, and this latest property already fits right in.

Don’t get too excited though! Unlike The Standard, New York, this Eastside counterpart, located on the corner of East 5th Street and Bowery at Cooper Square, is going to be a more mellow alternative to all the boom in your Westside room. Spanning 21 floors with 145 rooms offering stunning cityscape views, The Standard, East Village will offer you all the spacious comforts and high ‘standards’ to which you’ve grown accustomed.

Over the next year, we’ll be refurbishing the rooms, revamping the restaurant and reimagining the public spaces to make everything perfect for you. Oh, and when I say I’ll be “working”, I mean I’ll be at the bar sipping my martini, pointing at things and telling people where another bar should probably belong.

We’re really excited to be moving into the hood with old friends like Creative Time and The New Museum and to meet all the new friends waiting for us. We know we’ll see you there, so keep checking back for updates. I’ll be keeping you posted every step of the way.

xoxo
Stan

xoxo right back atcha Stan!

Meanwhile, there are already a few noticeable changes. Or at least one.

Like! Remember the Trilby hitchin' post that workers installed last July?

Gone!