Proposed 57-key hotel in Yonkers wouldn’t become a den of prostitution, owner says

A restaurant owner who hopes to convert his eatery into a 57-key hotel wants to placate locals who oppose his plans. Some Yonkers residents have voiced opposition to Gulam Khan’s proposed hotel, as well as another hotel proposed for South Broadway, claiming the new businesses could become magnets for prostitution. It was not immediately clear why they believed this would be the case. The chairman of the South Broadway Business Improvement District wrote to the city officials saying he was opposed to the hotel because it may end up being used to temporarily house the homeless or mentally ill. Khan told LoHud that concerns that the hotel would be a host to prostitution are unfounded because of the cost to stay there, which he did not disclose. “The hotel is going to improve the whole neighborhood. It’s a gateway to Yonkers,” he said. The lodge would rise next to the Broadway Diner, which he owns, so it wouldn’t make sense to open a seedy establishment, he added. [LoHud]