A deluge of cement from the construction of the new Willow Hotel broke the wall of the neighboring espresso bar, part of the Le Parker Meridien hotel today, a spokesperson for Le Parker Meridien told The Real Deal. No one was injured in the accident, at the coffee shop, called Knave, located at 118 West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
The hotel was cleaning up as of this afternoon and the New York City Department of Buildings said it was investigating the cause of the concrete mudslide.
“[The incident] was contained in Knave and nothing reached the main lobby of the hotel. Fortunately nobody was injured and FDNY was called into action immediately,” said Steven Pipes, president of Jack Parker Corporation, parent company of Le Parker Meridien, in a statement to The Real Deal.
The 730-room Le Parker Meridien opened in 1981.
The 133,000-square-foot, 250-room Willow Hotel is being developed at 120 West 57th Street by New York-based Ark Partners. The planned hotel will rise 30 stories and is scheduled for a spring 2013 opening, according to published reports.
The 120 West 57th Street site was the longtime home of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, which sold the building in 2007.
Hunter Roberts Construction Group is the construction manager for the site, according to signs at the site and the company’s website.
Ark Partners is also developing a 25-unit condominium building at 859 and 861 Lexington Avenue and residential and retail space at 15 West 55th Street. Ark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.