From left: David Tarr and Steve Haggerty

Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels currently has just two lodging locations in New York City but plans to open anothe [more]

From left: David Tarr and Steve Haggerty

Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels currently has just two lodging locations in New York City but plans to open anothe [more]

Designer Zac Posen (credit: Jason Kibbler)

Fashion designer Zac Posen, 29, answered a few questions from The Real Deal as he prepares to unveil his interior design handiwork at new boutique condo development 16 West 21st Street. Sales at the F&T Group-developed project, headed up by Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Hagay Azoulay, will begin early next month, Posen’s camp said, but a red carpet event March 18 will mark the official opening. Posen remained mum about the furniture line he was reported to be launching this year, and a spokesperson said he’s put the project on hold. [more]

With fewer hotel rooms under construction, hotel developers hope the reduction in new rooms will help to revive the hospitality industry.

The October 2009 STR/TWR/Dodge Construction Pipeline Report noted that the total active U.S. hotel development pipeline includes 4,089 projects comprising 435,265 rooms.

This represents a 32.7 percent decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline — which includes projects in the construction, final planning and planning stages, but not in the pre planning stage — compared to October 2008.

“The number of rooms in construction fell 41.2 percent from the same time last year,” said Duane Vinson, vice president at STR. A number of planned hotels have ground to a halt in Manhattan including the Lower East Side’s 180 Ludlow Street.
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