Balazs shows off subdued plans for revamped Standard East Village

Andre Balazs unveiled his plans for revamping the Standard East Village hotel, the property formerly known as the Cooper Square Hotel he acquired and renamed last year. The Local East Village reported his biggest changes focused on the public spaces of the 21-story property at 25 Cooper Square near 5th Street. “The hotel failed,” Balazs said. “We bought it from bankruptcy. One reason was that the public spaces didn’t work.”

He plans a new ground-floor restaurant with an open kitchen, 54 indoor and 63 outdoor seats on the Bowery to be called “Cafe on the Bowery.” A second story will be added to the area on the corner of East 5th Street to serve as the lobby, and Balazs wants to have a restaurant garden at the rear of the hotel that would be open until 2 a.m. A retractable roof would help stifle the noise.

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The presentation was made to the East 5th Street Block Association, which repeatedly voiced complaints about the hotel under its previous ownership. But Balazs reassured them that it was in his best interest to keep parties in order, too.

“We hate weddings, we hate bat mitzvahs,” he said. “We don’t like the feeling when one monolithic group distorts what should be a residential-type place.” [Local EV]