The Post looks at the new Bowery hotel, forgets where CBGBs was

Back on Jan. 11, Lois Weiss at the Post was first to report on the new new hotel coming to the former Salvation Army building on the Bowery. Since then, Curbed and the Observer have unleashed renderings of the hotel...

The Post follows-up today, getting some feedback about the gaudy-looking hotel's arrival in an article titled "The Bowery's Skid Glow."

Let's take a look at the article!

Nobody's begging for change anymore in the Bowery.
The once-gritty neighborhood has already become the face of the city's ongoing gentrification, but a new 14-story boutique hotel — complete with balconies that light up in shimmery pastels and a massive Jumbotron screen — has locals wondering if they are living in the next Times Square.
The hotel will go up right across the street from the old CBGBs, but recently released renderings show the look is more Kylie Minogue than Debbie Harry.

Right across the street from the old CBGBs?

And...

The changes that the Bowery has undergone are astounding, said Suzanne Wasserman, director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at CUNY graduate center.
"When I moved to New York in 1980, it was Skid Row and bums [down there]," she said.
But Wasserman said there are only two constants in New York — change and people worrying about change.

Image created by Shawn Chittle.

John Varvatos saw the light

The Post has a special commercial real estate section today. (And it's not online.) The cover story is titled "New Lease of Life," about how landmark buildings require special tenants.

Here's a passage from the article:

Even though CBGBs was not landmarked and he could have ripped it all out, John Varvatos maintained in his shop many of the funky features of the former punk palace.

"John loves music anyway and it was perfect because so much of his business is entertainment related," said his broker, Robert Cohen, executive vice president of Robert K. Futterman & Associates. "We ... had been looking for a second location but uptown, and even if it wasn't CBGB, the Bowery wouldn't have been an option."

Cohen noted that nobody wanted to install a bank or an "ugly" restaurant or anything that would degrade the character and the history of what had taken place in the building.

"John saw the light," Cohen said.

In fact, brokers all said that if a client walks into a historical space and doesn't "get it," the space won't work for them.

New York Post attempts to relate to the economic struggles of the common family man trying to make a living in New York City

The Post has a piece today that so many of us can relate to here in the city: Everything is just getting so expensive.

YIKES! HIKES HIT $1,000+ A MONTH
BLAME FOOD AS MANHATTAN FAMILY'S BILLS SURGE
By JEREMY OLSHAN

The cost of living for a typical Manhattan family has shot up in the past year - just ask Gary Foodim.

Foodim, 37, his wife and two kids saw their expenses increase well over $1,000 in April compared to the same month last year.

Of course, this story runs on the same day that the paper ups its price from 25 to 50 cents. Thanks, Rupert!