search

The Real Deal Logo

Trending

It’s not just Arbor: Syndicator lender Ready Capital chokes on past-due debtIt’s not just Arbor: Syndicator lender Ready Capital chokes on past-due debtThere will be blood: Lenders warn of bank failures at TRD forumThere will be blood: Lenders warn of bank failures at TRD forumPinnacle Bank buys back Fort Worth office tower for $12 per sf Pinnacle Bank buys back Fort Worth office tower for $12 per sf “Not a chance in hell”: Developers slam politician’s housing plan“Not a chance in hell”: Developers slam politician’s housing plan
Commercial
New York

Ian Reisner gets a second chance with new gay-friendly hotel 

Out NYC co-founder plans new hotel in old Hell’s Kitchen space

Ian Reisner Getting Second Chance at Gay-Friendly Hotel
Parkview Developers managing partner Ian Reisner and 510 West 42nd Street (Getty, Google Maps)

Not everyone gets a second chance. But Ian Reisner is trying his hand at launching a LGBTQ-friendly hotel in Hell’s Kitchen once more.

The Parkview Developers managing partner signed a lease to take over the property at 510 West 42nd Street, the New York Post reported. Reisner plans to make it into a hotel, restaurant and nightclub.

The property was formerly home to the Playboy Club, which didn’t last a year before closing down in 2019. There was also the 103-room Cachet Boutique Hotel NYC, which closed down last October.

Reisner is in discussions with an unnamed boutique hotel operator based in Europe to open the hotel in September. Until then, it’s expected to operate as an Airbnb — presumably, a legal one — beginning as soon as this month.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The main restaurant would span 7,500 square feet and be open throughout the day; another 3,000-square-foot restaurant is expected to open in the fall. A 14,000-square-foot entertainment space, meanwhile, would include a supper club, dance space and mixology bar.

It’s a return to roots for Reisner, who co-founded Out NYC in 2012. It was billed as an “all-singing, all-dancing gay hotel.” The music came to a screeching halt in 2015 when Reisner hosted then-presidential candidate Ted Cruz, an ardent opponent of gay marriage, at his home. 

Reisner said he was “chased out of the business.” In 2016, Merchants Hospitality bought the long-term lease for $40 million.

Reisner predicted success for this particular second act, citing the evolution of the Hudson Yards neighborhood and saying the area was “better now.”

This may also be a good time for the hotelier to return to the fold at the Hell’s Kitchen site. The city’s crackdown on Airbnb and short-term rentals has opened the door for hotels, especially as tourism returns to the city post-pandemic.

— Holden Walter-Warner

Read more

Companies and People
Parkview DevelopersIan Reisner
Tags
Hotel Market