From left: The Mondrian Soho at 150 Lafeyette Street and the Nolitan at 30 Kenmare Street in Little Italy

There are 37 hotels under construction in Manhattan, according to Lodging Development Group’s 2010 Manhattan development report, 32 of which will open this year and five of which are slated to open next year. A potential oversupply, the 2010 figure is up from 21 properties in 2009 and 12 in 2008. Two hotels set to open this year are the Mondrian Soho at 150 Lafayette Street and the Nolitan at 30 Kenmare Street. There are seven additional projects that have been announced or are in the early planning stages but for which building plans have yet to be filed, including a hotel at the Hudson Yards West site near the Javits Center. TRD [more]

H. Thomas O’Hara Architect designed Twenty9th Park, on left, and the Mondrian Hotel, on right

The luxury Manhattan design firm H. Thomas O’Hara Architect filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, but remains in operation, recent court documents show. The firm, which designed buildings such as Twenty9th Park at 39 East 29th Street and the Mondrian Hotel at 150 Lafayette Street, filed for Chapter 11 protection Dec. 11 in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan. The filings show assets of $1.2 million and debts of $4.3 million. The bulk of the money counted as assets, some $1.1 million, was in unpaid money owed to the firm by clients, the papers show. The largest amount the firm owes was $1.5 million to Citibank Commercial Loan Servicing, while the second largest amount was owed to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid payroll taxes, totaling $643,166. The president and managing member of the firm, H. Thomas O’Hara, said in an interview with The Real Deal today that he filed the suit because of the difficult financial pressures brought on by the declining economy. [more]