Demolition may make way for Chang hotel

 

Sam Chang wants to demolish 148-154 Delancey Street

Hotel developer Sam Chang has filed plans to demolish four buildings at the corner of Delancey and Suffolk streets on the Lower East Side to make way for a six-story Gene Kaufman-designed Holiday Inn.

Chang’s McSam Hotel Group applied for the permits on March 9 for the demolition of the buildings , according to the city’s Department of Buildings Web site. The permits remain under review, the Web site says.

Breaking from its usual modus operandi of developing hotels and selling them off, the hotel group will not put the future Holiday Inn, a full-service hotel brand, on the market, said McSam Hotel Group COO Gary Wisinski.

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A stop-work order exists on one of the buildings, 148 Delancey Street, which had four complaints filed against it between March 19, 2008, and April 17, 2008, the DOB site shows. The complaints were filed against the previous owner of the properties for causes such as working without a permit, before Chang bought the structures in July 2008 for $15.75 million, property records show.

Wisinski said the company hoped to get clearance for the DOB to begin demolition in April.

The 40,414-square-foot hotel is planned to be 68 feet tall, the DOB site said. Chang took out a $10.675 million construction loan from the State Bank of Texas in June 2008, according to city finance records and Wisinski. The COO said he expects the building to be finished by late 2010 at the earliest.

Chang is planning to open 20 hotels over the next 20 months, according to reports.