From DNA Info:A long-neglected Hell's Kitchen landmark — which was covered in scaffolding for decades and had become home to squatters and vagrants in recent years — is getting an overhaul to become a boutique hotel, its owners announced.
The Windermere, a landmarked Queen Anne-style building at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, is set to be transformed into a 175-room upscale hotel with an outdoor rooftop space, according to owner Mark Tress, who purchased the property in 2009.
In addition to the hotel rooms, Tress also plans to build permanent affordable housing, which would take up 28 percent of the building, plus retail spaces on the ground floor, the developer said.
"We find the proposed work for the most part praiseworthy and welcome, especially after the building’s long history of neglect and decay," Community Board 4 wrote in a largely positive letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission after a meeting last week.
However, CB4 objected to the ninth-floor rooftop extension, and hoped that a handicapped access platform would be changed so it blended into the building.
1 comment:
If this beautiful building were located in Flushing (like the RKO Keith's) it would have been plundered, and eventually destroyed.
Meanwhile, here in Flushing, many of our elected officials only feign concern for historic and architectural preservation. At times, they can be very convincing to the unsuspecting public.
These pols skillfully wring their hands--with Crocodile tears welling up in their eyes--but take campaign contributions from the same real estate developers that are destroying our history.
We must ALL learn to vote smart and distinguish between the scallywags and our real benefactors!
You just voted in a such a scallywag. His name is Vallone. Enjoy the next 4 years of folly.
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