Hotels are hot. So sizzling, in fact, that developers and chains are looking for locations far beyond Midtown Manhattan, the traditional locus of tourism and business travel. New boutique hotels are sprouting in the Meatpacking District and the Lower East Side, for instance, and a new Courtyard by Marriott is opening this month at 92nd Street and York Avenue.
And if several developers have their way, upscale hotels will be opening even farther uptown — in Harlem. Visitors looking for the soul of New York City are heading north of 96th Street by the busload, yet the new hotel development intends to tap a demographic beyond the mostly European visitors that populate the gospel brunch and architecture tours, which inevitably end at a soul food restaurant.
The real estate renaissance in Harlem derives from declining crime rates, a spate of new jazz clubs, the obliteration of 96th Street as the racial divide for residential patterns and the construction of new retail outlets, including a new Pathmark supermarket and Harlem U.S.A., a mall with a cinema and several national retail chains, say community leaders.
Historically, hotels and small bed-and-breakfasts have done well in Harlem. In its heyday, the 12-story Hotel Theresa was the tallest building in the neighborhood. After it was built, in 1913, it was known as the Waldorf of Harlem. It played host to Joe Louis’ victory celebrations, and counted among its guests Muhammad Ali and musicians who played the Apollo Theater, including Sam Cooke and James Brown, as well as visiting dignitaries. It was converted into an office building in 1970. There hasn’t been a new hotel built in Harlem for over 40 years.
“We need a hotel,” said Barbara Askins, 125th Street Business Improvement District president. “It is long overdue.”
The most ambitious new proposal is Harlem Park, a new $236 million mixed-use development at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and 125th Street, which includes a Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
To the west is another big project. Six of seven proposals being considered by the Empire State Development Corporation for the old Victoria Theater site at 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, near the Apollo, include a hotel.
Downtown-based Majic Development Corp. is the main development team at Harlem Park, which plans a 204-room Courtyard by Marriott, rental residences, 62,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, 167,000 square feet of Class A office space, a 1,200-seat meeting and banquet facility, a spa, health club and parking. Rumors have also identified the site as the first retail venue for Brand Jordan, a new division of Nike.
Though a groundbreaking ceremony in February trumpeted the building’s potential contribution to the neighborhood, the former site of the New York College of Podiatric Medicine remains an empty lot. A spokesman for the developer said that confidential negotiations with a co-developer regarding the sale of a leasehold precluded him from speaking about the project on the record.
“It was supposed to start months ago, but other developers came with a very good offer and they’re now finishing up those negotiations,” said architect Enrique Norten, whose stunning sleek structure for the site would be the tallest building in Harlem at 30 stories.
The hotel complex would hasten the bustle within an active neighborhood. “If you’ve been up there lately, there is tremendous growth in retail and business in the neighborhood,” said Kathy Duffy, spokeswoman for Marriott Hotels.
Retail rents along the commercial and cultural backbone, 125th Street, have risen recently. Choice locations between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards range from $120 to $140 a square foot. The fringes east and west reach $80 to $90, according to figures from the 125th Street Business Improvement District.
“We’ve conducted several feasibility studies and think that this is a good opportunity to have a branded hotel in the area,” said Duffy. “It’s a great location for business travelers and visitors from the tri-state region, since it’s convenient to the 4 and 5 subway lines and to Metro-North.”
More controversy surrounds the Victoria Theater site, which is owned by the Empire State Development Corporation and its subsidiary, the Harlem Community Development Corporation, which issued an RFP in September 2004. It received 11 responses that have been whittled down to eight.
The agencies are now in the process of selecting a single developer, said Glynis Gotwald, spokeswoman for the ESDC. “It’s our policy not to comment on proposals for the site before the process is complete.”
Several big names submitted proposals, including Ian Schrager, RD Management, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Integrated Holdings, Thor Equities, Danforth Development Partners, the Related Companies and its partner at the Time Warner Center, Apollo Real Estate Advisors. The proposals range from $70 million to $150 million and include luxury condominiums, hotel space and retail. Cultural components, which were mandatory, include a recreated Bottom Line club, a B. B. King Entertainment Center, the defunct Jazz Museum and space for Harlem-based performing arts companies.
Community opposition has centered on the fate of the Victoria Theater, built in 1917, which the state agencies ostensibly bought in the mid-1980s to save it from being converted into non-theater use. However, preserving the space was not a prerequisite for the development proposals. Only two proposals call for reusing the theater’s interior, which has angered some community leaders, according to the New York Times.
Marriott’s approach to its new hotel on 92nd Street is similar to the approach the company is taking in Harlem.
Regarding the 92nd Street property, spokeswoman Duffy said that “not all hotels are appealing to the business traveler and tourist. We feel that this location will appeal to pharmaceutical companies, people on hospital-related business and relatives or friends of people who live on the Upper East Side who come to visit.”
Like its counterpart on 92nd Street, the Harlem location will offer comparable prices within the brand designed to be competitive, and will shy away from luxury amenities like 24-hour room service, valet parking or on-site dry cleaning.
Harlem represents a “major growth opportunity,” she said. “People said that the Marriott Marquis [in Times Square] was located in a dicey neighborhood. Look at it now.”