East Village hotel hearing delayed — again

The effort to move forward with a nine-story hotel adjacent to the Merchant’s House Museum in the East Village has been delayed for a fifth time. The Local East Village reported that a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing regarding the project, controversial because of construction’s potential impact on the landmark next door, has been pushed back to Sept. 11.

The delay is the second time it’s been pushed back in a week, as the developer previously requested a postponement to ensure he prepared a report that would successfully quell the concerns of opponents. The result of this hearing will either give the hotel plan a go-ahead, or send the team back to the planning phases.

As previously reported, news of this proposed hotel, at 27 East 4th Street, broke in May. Almost immediately, the discussion turned how the development would impact the Merchant’s House Museum.

Later that month, concerns regarding the landmark’s stability made Manhattan Community Board 2’s Landmarks Committee vote down the proposal. Committee members said the 180-year-old structure was too delicate to withstand construction next door.

The proposal’s opponents were further enraged when news broke in June that two of the men behind the hotel development have criminal backgrounds: Edward Carroll, an associate principal at SRA Architecture + Engineering, who is working on the hotel proposal, and Constantine Fotos, who helped put together the design team. [Local East Village]