Row NYC Hotel is a hotel at 700 Eighth Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets, in the

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The hotel is 27 stories tall with 1,331 rooms. Designed by

Schwartz & Gross Schwartz & Gross was a New York City architectural firm active from at least 1901 to 1963,Herbert J. Krapp as consulting architect, it was developed by brothers Henry and

Irwin Chanin Irwin Salmon Chanin (October 29, 1891 – February 24, 1988) was an American architect and real estate developer, best known for designing several Art Deco towers and Broadway theaters. Biography Irwin Chanin was born to a Jewish family, the son ...

and opened on February 1, 1928, as the Hotel Lincoln. The hotel largely retains its original brick-and-terracotta facade. The interior spaces, which originally included a lobby and various restaurants on the first three stories, have been redesigned substantially over the years. The Chanin brothers had acquired the site in May 1925 and developed it along with the neighboring

John Golden John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four films. ...

, Bernard B. Jacobs, and Majestic. The Chanins resold the hotel in 1927 to Irving I. Lewine and the United Cigar Stores Company, but the brothers continued to lease the hotel until 1931, when United Cigars acquired their lease. Maria Kramer bought the hotel in 1938 before reselling it in 1956 to

Webb and Knapp Webb and Knapp was a real estate development firm. The company is most famous for developing the Roosevelt Airfield, which was the launching site of the transatlantic flights of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. It was also the firm at which ...

, operated by real estate developer

William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed a ...

, which extensively renovated the hotel and renamed it the Hotel Manhattan. British firm Grand Metropolitan Inc. bought the hotel in 1969, and it operated as the Royal Manhattan until it was closed in 1974. The Milstein family purchased the hotel in 1978, and it reopened in 1980 as the Milford Plaza Hotel. Rockpoint Group and hotel operator Highgate Holdings bought the hotel in 2011 and renamed it the Row NYC in 2014.

Site

The Row NYC Hotel is on 700 Eighth Avenue, on the eastern sidewalk between 44th and 45th Streets, in the

Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres. Places *Theater District, Manhattan, New York City *Boston Theater District *Buffalo Theater District *Cleveland Theater ...

. The

land lot In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...

is rectangular and covers , with a

frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...

of approximately on Eighth Avenue and on either side street. The Row NYC adjoins seven Broadway theaters clockwise from north: the

, Bernard B. Jacobs,

Gerald Schoenfeld Gerald Schoenfeld (September 22, 1924 – November 25, 2008) was chairman of The Shubert Organization from 1972 to 2008. Career After graduating from the University of Illinois, Schoenfeld fought in World War II. On his return, he obtained a law ...

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' ...

, Shubert, Broadhurst, and Majestic. Other nearby structures include the

Al Hirschfeld Theatre The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish an ...

to the west,

Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...

and

Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed fo ...

to the northeast, and the

Hayes Theater The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actress ...

and the St. James Theatre to the southeast. The surrounding area is part of the largest concentration of Broadway theaters on a single block. The adjacent block of 45th Street is also known as

George Abbott Way George Abbott Way is a section of West 45th Street west of Times Square between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in New York City, named for Broadway producer and director George Abbott. It is just east of Restaurant Row. Notable buildings The are ...

, and foot traffic on the street increases box-office totals for the theaters there. The hotel is also approximately west of

Shubert Alley Shubert Alley is a pedestrian alley in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The alley, a privately owned public space, connects 44th and 45th Streets and covers about . It runs through the middle of a city block, paral ...

, which separates the seven adjacent theaters from

One Astor Plaza One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway and formerly the W. T. Grant Building, is a 54-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Der Scutt o ...

and the

Minskoff Theatre The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named afte ...

. The Majestic, Masque (Golden), and Royale (Jacobs) theaters and the Lincoln Hotel (Row NYC Hotel) had all been developed concurrently. The site of all four buildings had previously occupied by twenty brownstone residences. The site was part of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settle ...

estate from 1803 to 1922, when it was sold to Henry Claman. The plots collectively measured wide along Eighth Avenue, along 44th Street, and along 45th Street.

Architecture

The Lincoln Hotel was designed by

Schwartz & Gross Schwartz & Gross was a New York City architectural firm active from at least 1901 to 1963, with Herbert J. Krapp as consulting architect. It was constructed by the Chanin Construction Company, headed by

. The hotel is 27 stories high, although it was originally described as being 30 stories high. Its facade was variously described as being designed in the Byzantine or Italianate style. The ground floor is clad in rusticated blocks of

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

, and the upper stories contain gold-colored, bonded Roman brick. The brick facade was designed to relate to the adjacent theaters. In contrast to the neighboring theaters, the Row NYC's facade is sparsely detailed.

Public rooms

Lobby and restaurants

The hotel's public rooms were originally designed in a red, green, and blue color scheme, with carvings and chandeliers that evoked the designs of skyscrapers. There was originally of commercial space, consisting of 16 showrooms and storefronts. The first story contained the lobby, shops, and restaurants. Irwin Chanin had planned to furnish the lobby in the

Louis XIV style The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the officia ...

, but Chanin changed his plans because he believed that the

flappers Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

of the 1920s would look out of place in the hotel. At the 45th Street end of the lobby was a lounge with a red, blue, green, and silver ceiling, adjacent to which was a library with 3,000 volumes. The restaurants consisted of a 50-seat basement cafe, a 250-seat grill room, and a 400-seat main dining room. The grill room had wooden beams on its ceiling and was designed in an English style. The second floor was supposed to be a ballroom and banking hall; as built, it had a lounge and two private dining rooms. In addition, there were offices on the second story. In the 1950s, the first three stories were gutted to make way for a triple-height lobby. The main section of the lobby included a marble registration desk on the second floor, accessed by escalators from the ground floor. Seven blocks of imported marble were installed inside the lobby. When the hotel was rebuilt in 1957, there was a main ballroom capable of accommodating 500 guests, as well as a lower-lobby ballroom with space for 200 guests. In addition, the lobby adjoined three restaurants: a luxury restaurant called the Playbill, a bar called the Manhattan Bar, and a cafe. Jac Lessman designed these dining rooms. In 1980, the hotel's main entrance was relocated to 45th Street to cater to people visiting Broadway theaters nearby. The reopened hotel included two lounges and a "brasserie-style" restaurant; these spaces were named after Broadway theaters. The design of the Row NYC's lobby dates to a 2014 renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates. As part of the renovation, the lobby was converted into a space, and an illuminated staircase was placed in the lobby. Local artist Yorgo Alexopoulos designed two light sculptures, one on either side of the reception area. The lobby also includes a restaurant called District M.

Basements

The hotel was also to contain three basement levels. Part of one basement level was to contain an entrance to the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

's 42nd Street station, while the two other basement levels were supposed to contain a bus terminal. As built, the hotel had four basements, which housed the mechanical equipment, including a laundry plant that could wash more than 10,000 people's clothes per day.

Guestrooms

When it was planned, the Lincoln Hotel had 1,400 rooms on its upper stories, each with its own bathroom. When the hotel opened, guests could rent radios; signals were transmitted to each room using the girders of the hotel's steel frame, rather than using wires. After the Lincoln was rebuilt as the Manhattan Hotel in 1957, Lessman redecorated the rooms in either blue, green, gray, or gold. Each room was also outfitted with a television and a radio. Following another renovation in 1980, the Milford Plaza Hotel had 1,310 rooms, which were decorated in black and burgundy. The rooms were designed by Marilynn Motto, with lighting by Howard Brandston. As late as the 1980s, the guestrooms did not have fire-safety systems such as sprinklers. In the 2010s,

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...

and Gabellini Sheppard redecorated the rooms, expanding the hotel to 31 rooms. The hotel also included a Penthouse Paparazzi suite, which covered and was marketed for $2,520 per night when the Row NYC was renovated in 2014.

History

was an American architect and real estate developer who designed several Art Deco towers and Broadway theaters. He and his brother Henry designed their first Manhattan buildings in 1924, including the

Chanin Building Chanin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alabama Chanin, American fashion designer *Irwin Chanin Irwin Salmon Chanin (October 29, 1891 – February 24, 1988) was an American architect and real estate developer, best known ...

. They then built and operated a number of theaters and other structures related to the entertainment industry, including the Roxy Theatre. By October 1926, the Chanins had decided to construct and operate a theatrical franchise "in New York and half a dozen other large cities in the United States".

Development

The Chanin brothers had acquired the Klaman site in May 1925. The Chanins planned to build a 20-story hotel on Eighth Avenue and three theaters on the side streets. In March 1926, Krapp filed plans with the

New York City Department of Buildings The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction tra ...

for the hotel and theaters, which were projected to cost $4.5 million. The total site, including land, was expected to cost $10 million. The brownstones on the site were razed starting in May, and the site was cleared by the next month. That July, the Chanin brothers received a $7.5 million loan for the four developments from S. W. Straus & Co. The three theaters were all named in December 1926; from largest to smallest, they were the Majestic, Royale, and Masque. The Chanins announced the same month that the hotel was to be known as the Lincoln. The brothers were also attempting to sell the hotel and lease it back for 21 years. Excavation for the Hotel Lincoln began on August 7, 1926, and the hotel's foundation was constructed starting on November 1, 1926. Krapp's original plans had called for a Spanish-style design, but Irwin Chanin subsequently hired Schwartz & Gross to redesign the hotel. Chanin, an engineer by trade, was heavily involved in the hotel's design process, creating sketches of furniture that he wanted. Workers began erecting the steel frame on February 15, 1927. The hotel was

topped out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...

on May 17, 1927, when Irwin and Henry Chanin drilled two golden rivets at the top of the hotel's steel frame. The structure had taken only ten months to erect. The Chanin brothers resold the hotel in June 1927 to Irving I. Lewine and the United Cigar Stores Company. The Chanin brothers leased back the hotel for 63 years, except for the storefront at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 45th Street. ''The New York Times'' reported at the time that real estate values on Eighth Avenue between 42nd Street and

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

had increased by 200 percent over the preceding decade. The hotel's owners rented out three storefronts in August 1927. Later that year, additional storefronts were rented out to a shirt store and a barber shop. In January 1928, eighty-one truckloads of furniture were delivered to the site, and the owners announced the hotel's opening date. James T. Clyde was hired as the Lincoln's first managing director that month, operating the hotel on behalf of the Chanin brothers. Upon its completion, the Lincoln was the tallest residential building around Times Square, as well as the tallest hotel in Manhattan west of Broadway. The hotel informally opened on January 31, 1928, when it started offering meal service to guests. The first recorded guest was a businessman from

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas. Governor

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...

and mayor

Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Beau James, was mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. He was forced t ...

both sent the Chanins congratulatory telegrams after the Lincoln opened. The hotel's formal opening ceremony took place on February 13, 1928, coinciding with the observance of the

Lincoln's Birthday Lincoln's Birthday is a legal, public holiday in some U.S. states, observed on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville (Hodgensville, Hodgen's Mill), Kentucky.Cal. Gov. Code �6700(c) Connecticut, Illinois, ...

holiday. At the official opening ceremony, a portrait of Lincoln was dedicated in the hotel's lobby, and Smith pressed a button at his Albany office to illuminate the hotel's rooftop sign.

Early years

Cigar Stores ownership

Irwin Chanin initially rented out rooms for $3 to $5 per night. The Eighth Avenue Association gave the Chanin brothers a plaque in March 1928 to celebrate the hotel's completion. That October, radio station WGBS opened an auxiliary studio atop the Hotel Lincoln. The Cigar Stores Realty Company bought the Hotel Lincoln in January 1929 as part of a $25 million purchase of multiple properties. The following month, the

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

lent $3.8 million to the Lincoln's owners. Among the hotel's early events were meetings of the Theatrical Stock Managers' Association; meetings for

John F. Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th List of mayors of New York City, Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskill Mountain ...

's 1929 mayoral campaign; and awards ceremonies for farmers. In addition, one of the storefronts was leased as a drugstore in 1930. The United Cigar Stores Company acquired the Chanin brothers' lease of the hotel in 1931. The hotel was losing $350,000 annually by the next year. The hotel became part of the Reliance Property Management chain in February 1933, and the Irving Trust Company appointed Frank W. Kridel as the hotel's operator that June. The same month, the hotel received a permit to sell alcoholic beverages after

Prohibition in the United States In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...

was repealed. Between 1930 and 1937, the hotel also hired big-name bands to play in the Blue Room for $2,500 a week. The hotel also hosted events such as a 1936 exhibition of Lincoln-related memorabilia. Kridel continued to manage the Lincoln Hotel until 1937 or 1938.

Kramer ownership

United Cigar Stores continued to own the hotel until May 1938, when it sold the Lincoln to Maria Kramer, owner of the

Hotel Edison Hotel Edison is at 228 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1931, it is part of the Triumph Hotels brand, owned by Shimmie Horn and Gerald Barad. Thomas Edison turned on the lights when it opened. It accommodated 1,0 ...

, for $7 million. United Cigars received $360,000 in cash and sold Kramer stock in the Lincoln Inc., the company that legally owned the building. Under Kramer's ownership, Consolidated Radio Artists received exclusive rights to perform in the hotel's grill room. The hotel's Blue Room became a popular venue for name bands, competing with nightclubs for business, and ''Variety'' magazine cited the Lincoln as "an important danceband outlet". The Blue Room was shuttered at the beginning of January 1942 but reopened that March. The Blue Room's performers included jazz pianist

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

; trumpeter

Erskine Hawkins Erskine Ramsay Hawkins (July 26, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was an American trumpeter and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is best remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" (1 ...

; and clarinetist

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

. In particular, Basie's band had been the first nonwhite band to perform at the Blue Room in 1943. The Lincoln's Blue Room closed for renovations in 1946, but the room was damaged by a flood just before it was to reopen; as a result, the room did not reopen until early 1947. After Maria Kramer's husband Max died in 1946, Kramer and her stepsons became involved in a legal dispute over who owned the hotel. In January 1949, Kramer took over full ownership of the Lincoln and relinquished the Hotel Edison to her stepsons. The hotel was still three-fourths occupied as late as 1952. The

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...

opened a veterans' canteen at the hotel in October 1952, but the canteen closed in February 1954 due to a lack of funds. At the beginning of November 1955, the city government alleged that the Lincoln Hotel contained several violations of city building codes, including defective exit doors, "dirty and unsanitary" furnishings, and missing lights. The New York City Department of Housing said the violations dated to 1948 and recommended that Kramer be fined $500 and jailed for 30 days. By then, only 200 rooms on the lowest floors were in use, and the third through 27th floors were closed off completely. According to ''The New York Times'', the hotel's upper floors had been in a state of disrepair for years. Kramer was ultimately fined $250, and she announced at the end of November 1955 that she was selling the hotel.

Zeckendorf operation

Renovation

In March 1956,

, operated by real estate developer

, purchased the Lincoln Hotel from Kramer, along with the Roosevelt Hotel in Washington, D.C.. Zeckendorf said he had acquired the two hotels "because of the potential inherent in the properties". The deal involved $10 million in cash. Kramer negotiated a clause in the sale in which she was allowed to continue living in the Lincoln rent-free for 100 years. The sale of the two hotels was supposed to be finalized in May 1956 but was delayed by two months. Immediately after acquiring the Lincoln, Zeckendorf sold the hotel for $8.5 million to an unidentified investor and immediately leased back the property. Zeckendorf's lease ran for 21 years, but he had options to renew the lease ten times for 21 years each. Zeckendorf used the proceeds of the sale for a renovation of the hotel, which was budgeted at $3 million to $4 million. Webb and Knapp planned to renovate all 1,339 rooms and clean the facade. Zeckendorf had evicted most tenants by July 1956, but there were 21 holdouts who refused to leave. Many of the holdouts were long-term residents who had consistently lived in the hotel since 1949 and were thus protected by state rent regulation laws. Thirteen tenants asked for buyouts of between $7,000 and $10,000 each, although Zeckendorf was only willing to pay $3,000 per tenant. The hotel began selling off furnishings and furniture at the beginning of August 1956, excluding items in the apartments that were still occupied. Within four days, all of the items in the building had been sold. Shortly afterward, the last rent-controlled tenants, including a woman who had lived there since 1929, agreed to move in exchange for a buyout of $3,000 each. The existing Hotel Lincoln sign was removed on August 17, 1956, and workers began demolishing part of the hotel's interior. The last tenant moved out on August 22, 1956, although some homeless people remained in the building past that date. New York City's fire commissioner threatened to halt the demolition process in late August 1956, claiming that the building contained numerous fire hazards. The next month, the hotel was renamed the Manhattan Hotel. Frank Kridel, who had managed the Lincoln in the 1930s, was rehired as the Manhattan's manager in December 1956. The hotel was almost entirely rebuilt, retaining only the original foundation, steel structure, and facade. As part of the project, the lowest three stories were almost entirely demolished, and new restaurants, offices, and ballrooms were constructed there. On the upper stories, workers patched and repaired the floor slabs and plaster walls, but everything else was replaced, including the wires, plumbing, windows, doors, and roof. Five hundred workers were employed on the project at its peak. Webb and Knapp started leasing out the hotel's storefronts in April 1957, and Harold Kelley was appointed as the Manhattan's resident manager the same month.

Reopening and operation

Webb and Knapp had originally planned to formally reopen the hotel on October 15, 1957. The managers decided to open 750 of the hotel's 1,400 rooms two weeks early to accommodate baseball fans attending the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. The Manhattan Hotel opened on September 30, 1957, with actress

Nancy Kelly Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress in film, theater and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's ''The March of Time'' and appeared in several films in the late 1 ...

as the hotel's first individual guest, although the

Nebraska Cornhuskers football The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the West Division of the Big Ten. Nebraska plays its home games at Memorial Stadium ...

team had stayed at the Manhattan over the weekend prior to its reopening. Workers completed additional guestrooms during the following month. The hotel, which cost $5.5 million to renovate, was advertised as the first new luxury hotel in Manhattan since the

Waldorf Astoria New York The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze ...

opened in 1931. Kridel wanted to advertise the Manhattan Hotel to athletes, fashion-industry buyers, businesspeople, tourists, and theatergoers. However, he did not want to attract trade shows, which he believed would damage the hotel both physically and in reputation. To cater to foreign guests, Zeckendorf hired a concierge who could speak eight languages. By January 1958, all 1,400 rooms had been opened, but the Playbill Restaurant was not complete. Kridel said at the time that the hotel had accommodated over 150,000 guests, 25 college and professional football teams, and 23 conventions since its reopening. Although Webb and Knapp initially contemplated hiring a band to play at the hotel, Kridel ultimately decided against it, saying that the $10,000 weekly cost of hiring a band was prohibitively high. In late 1960, Zeckendorf contemplated selling his leases of the Astor,

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

, and Manhattan hotels to raise money for the

Freedomland U.S.A. Freedomland U.S.A. (usually called Freedomland) was a theme park dedicated to American history in the Baychester section of the northeastern Bronx in New York City. Operating from 1960 to 1964, Freedomland was built on marshland owned by the W ...

amusement park in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, in which Zeckendorf also owned a majority stake. This plan was approved in June 1961, and Freedomland U.S.A., assumed the leases on the three hotels. After Kridel died in 1961, Erwin O. Schel was appointed as the Manhattan's general manager. Harold V. Varr was appointed as the hotel's general manager at the beginning of 1964, after Schel was promoted to a vice president within Zeckendorf's company. Webb and Knapp were deeply in debt by 1964. Lincoln Associates, which owned the land under the Manhattan, had taken over the hotel's finances, though Zeckendorf was still in charge of day-to-day operation. Manastor Associates, which held the primary lease on the Manhattan Hotel and subleased it to Webb and Knapp, started paying the hotel's salaries and other operating expenses that May. Zeckendorf was trying to buy Manastor at the time but was unable to complete the purchase. The 91468 Corporation, a subsidiary of Webb and Knapp that operated the Manhattan, filed for bankruptcy protection in August 1964, with about $6.4 million in liabilities and about $5.7 million in assets. After Webb and Knapp went bankrupt the next year, Lincoln Associates took over operation of the Manhattan. The owners appointed Joseph Hanfling as the hotel's general manager in 1966.

Grand Metropolitan ownership and closure

In October 1968, Abraham Kamber of Lincoln Associates said his firm was selling the hotel, although he did not know the names of the buyers. Around the same time,

Maxwell Joseph Sir Maxwell Joseph FRPSL (formerly ''Max'' Joseph) (31 May 1910, London – 22 September 1982, Kensington) was the founder of Grand Metropolitan plc, a large British hotel group. Career Educated at Pitman's Business School,

of British firm

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

said his firm was almost certain to acquire the Manhattan Hotel. Grand Metropolitan bought the Manhattan for $10 million in January 1969. The property title passed to Grand Metropolitan subsidiary Grandmet, and Grand Metropolitan assumed a $7.5 million mortgage that had been placed on the property. The hotel was immediately renamed the Royal Manhattan, reflecting the buyer's British heritage. Grand Metropolitan largely advertised the hotel toward foreign tourists. The

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...

was headquartered at the Royal Manhattan, and the hotel also hosted events such as British antiques shows. By the early 1970s, the hotel was losing $1 million per year, prompting Grand Metropolitan Inc. to announce in November 1974 that they would close the hotel. The owners claimed that they could not afford to pay the hotel's taxes, which amounted to $625,000 per year. At the time, many non-luxury hotels in New York City were suffering financially. In addition, the surrounding neighborhood had declined significantly, and the nearby

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

had become associated with prostitution and high crime. The hotel closed on December 7, 1974; by then, the hotel was valued at just $4 million. Grand Metropolitan tried to sell the hotel but struggled to find a buyer. The Royal Manhattan was one of three shuttered hostelries on Eighth Avenue in Midtown that were having trouble attracting buyers; the others were the

New Yorker Hotel The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel is a mixed-use hotel building at 481 Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1930, the New Yorker Hotel was designed by Sugarman and Berger in the ...

and the 51st Street

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

. The New York City government scheduled a foreclosure auction for the hotel in November 1975. Although the hotel was offered for $1.8 million, the auction did not attract any bids. The terms of the sale, which one real estate analyst described as "severe", required potential buyers to make mortgage payments for at least five years. The F. & N. Refrigeration and Cabinet Corporation, a

shell corporation A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...

representing a syndicate of foreign investors, bought the hotel in December 1975. The buyers paid about $500,000, plus $175,000 in back taxes. Despite the low sale price, the hotel was still valued at $8.5 million at the time, although the city government revised the hotel's valuation to $4.5 million in 1976. Investors began to express interest in converting hotels to apartment buildings after the New York City government amended its J-51 tax abatement program in early 1976. Among them were a group of Europeans led by Israeli investor

Shmuel Flatto-Sharon Shmuel "Samy" Flatto-Sharon ( he, שמואל פלאטו-שרון, 18 January 1930 – 7 December 2018) was a controversial French-Israeli businessman, radio talk-show host and politician. After starting his own political party, he was a member of ...

, who bought the hotel the same year. In preparation for the planned apartment conversion, the hotel's owners began auctioning off its furnishings in July 1976; the auction was expected to last several months. Flatto-Sharon's group opted to sell the Royal Manhattan after failing to obtain financing for the development. Homeless people frequented the boarded-up hotel. Its restaurant was featured in the 1977 erotic film ''

Barbara Broadcast ''Barbara Broadcast'' is an American adult erotic film released in 1977. The film was directed by Radley Metzger (as "Henry Paris") and filmed in several elaborate locations in New York City, including the Olympia ballroom and restaurant in the ...

'', directed by

Radley Metzger Radley Metzger (also known as Radley Henry Metzger, Radley H. Metzger and by the pseudonyms, "Jake Barnes", "Erich Farina" and "Henry Paris") (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American pioneering filmmaker and film distributor, most ...

Milstein ownership

Renovation and reopening

Sisix Corporation, representing the Milstein family, purchased the hotel for $2.5 million in 1978, with plans to renovate the hotel into an apartment building. The development was to have either 512 or 565 apartments, consisting of

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. Sisix Corp. began looking for financing for the project. At the time, several large developments were being planned around Times Square. By early 1979, the Milsteins had still not received a mortgage; because of high demand for hotel rooms around Times Square, they were considering reopening the hotel instead of converting it into apartments. The next year, the New York City government's Industrial Commercial Incentive Board voted to grant a tax abatement for the redevelopment. After the hotel reopened, the family would pay reduced taxes for 20 years, and the tax abatement would be reduced by 5 percent each year. The Milsteins planned to spend $14.5 million on renovations, but the project ultimately cost an estimated $15 million to $20 million. The family announced in April 1980 that the hotel would be called the Milford Plaza, and they hired Charles Waterman as the hotel's manager. The Milsteins wanted to attract guests who were visiting nearby Broadway theaters. As such, the hotel's main entrance faced the Broadway theaters on 45th Street, and advertisements for Broadway shows were placed on the Eighth Avenue facade.

The Broadway League The Broadway League, formerly the League of American Theatres and Producers and League of New York Theatres and Producers, is the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry based in New York, New York. Its members include thea ...

branded the Milford Plaza as the "Official Broadway Theater Hotel". The Milstein family wished to open the hotel by mid-1980 in advance of the

1980 Democratic National Convention The 1980 Democratic National Convention nominated President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale for reelection. The convention was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City from August 11 to August 14, 1980. The 1980 convention ...

. Milford Plaza reopened on August 1, 1980. It offered moderately priced rooms for between $39 and $49. The Milsteins could only afford such low room rates because of the tax abatement. The hotel was one of several in Midtown Manhattan to be completed during the early 1980s, amid an increase in

tourism in New York City Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

1980s to 2000s

When the Milford Plaza opened,

Manhattan Community Board 5 Manhattan Community Board 5 is a New York City community board, part of the local government apparatus of the city, with the responsibility for the neighborhoods of Midtown, Times Square, most of the Theater District, the Diamond District, the ...

gave the Milsteins an award "for the courageous reopening of a hotel on Eighth Avenue". Architectural critic

Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...

wrote that the hotel rooms were "badly needed", and Alan S. Oser of ''The New York Times'' said the Milsteins' decision to convert the Milford Plaza back to a hotel "reflected the improvement in hotel occupancy". In the first three months after the hotel's reopening, the Milford Plaza's resident manager Gregory Rizzi said the hotel "has been running at full occupancy, and I would say that between 65 and 70 percent of our volume is foreign tourists." Even at the end of 1980, the hotel was still 90 percent occupied, in spite of the

early 1980s recession The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1983. It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II. A key event leading to ...

. However, the recession caused the occupancy rate to decline during early 1981, and Paul Milstein estimated that he lost $5 million as a result. One year after the hotel reopened, the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' wrote that the hotel had become "popular for glittering post-theater parties". According to ''The New York Times'', some observers credited the hotel with helping spur the revitalization of Times Square. As part of a publicity campaign, Cinema Projects produced a TV advertisement for the hotel called "Lullabuy of Broadway", which first aired on June 21, 1982. The advertisement, which used the song " Lullaby of Broadway", became widely known; Paul Milstein later described it as the first "national advertising gimmick for a non-chain hotel". The Mamma Leone's restaurant opened at the base of the Milford Plaza in 1988 and operated until 1994. Mamma Leone's parent company

Restaurant Associates Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

also operated the hotel's room service during this time. The Milford Plaza underwent another renovation in 1994 at a cost of $10 million; the hotel was financially successful by then, even though its room rates had increased to $120 per night. Around the same time, the Milford Plaza's operators opened a health club and made plans for a fitness center. The hotel also installed a

currency exchange A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both ) (British English) or currency exchange (American English) is a business where people can exchange one currency for another. Nomenclature Although originally French, the term "bureau de chang ...

in its lobby. The Milford Plaza became a franchisee of the

Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. As of December 31, 2018, it operates 811 hotels with 114,614 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from t ...

hotel chain in 1994, although the franchise agreement expired in 2000. The Milstein family was involved in an acrimonious family dispute in the early 2000s. Paul Milstein's brother Seymour claimed that Paul's son

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

was mismanaging the hotel's finances. Seymour filed to dissolve his family's company in March 2001, asking a New York state judge to auction off the Milford Plaza and other buildings that the family owned. In response, Paul accused Seymour of trying to sell the building behind his back. Seymour Milstein died later that year, while the dispute was ongoing. Business declined significantly following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001. The proposed sale of the Milford Plaza was delayed by one year, but brokers were about to sell the hotel by the end of 2002. The family ultimately agreed to a settlement in April 2003, and they canceled the sale of the Milford Plaza and several other properties. The Milsteins announced in September 2009 that the Milford Plaza was to undergo a renovation that would take 18 to 21 months. In preparation for the renovation, the Milsteins laid off 350 employees and closed the hotel that December. The Milstein family decided to suspend their renovation plan indefinitely in early 2010 due to an economic downturn.

Rockpoint and Highgate ownership

In September 2010, Rockpoint Group and hotel operator Highgate Holdings announced that they would purchase the hotel from the Milstein family for $200 million. This amounted to approximately $154,000 per room, a lower rate than other hotels in New York City that were sold around the same time. Rockpoint and Highgate partially reopened the hotel in November 2010. Rockpoint and Highgate said they wished to convert "a two-star, tour-and-travel hotel with no amenities into a three-and-a-half-star lifestyle hotel". Consequently, they began an extensive $140 million renovation. As part of the renovation, Rockpoint and Highgate added 62 rooms, bringing the hotel to 1,331 rooms. The hotel was also planned to include a food hall covering , within the Mama Leone's space, as well as a fitness center covering . The renovation was completed in March 2014. Highgate proposed dividing the hotel into three ownership units in 2012: the land, the 1,331 guestrooms, and the 26,000-square-foot retail unit. The owners predicted that the three ownership units would sell for a combined $650 million.

David Werner David B. Werner (born 26 August, 1934) is author of the book ''Donde No Hay Doctor'' (''Where There is No Doctor''), co-founder and co-director of HealthWrights (based in Palo Alto, California) and Adjunct Associate Professor at Boston University ...

, in partnership with Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management’s real estate investment business, purchased the land parcel the next month for $325 million, about 30 percent more than what Rockpoint and Highgate had paid for the entire hotel three years earlier. Meridian Capital Group provided a $275 million mortgage for the hotel. After Werner purchased the land, other investors expressed interest in buying the rooms and retail space as part of a

commercial mortgage-backed security Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) are a type of mortgage-backed security backed by commercial and multifamily mortgages rather than residential real estate. CMBS tend to be more complex and volatile than residential mortgage-backed ...

deal.

Thor Equities Thor Equities is a real estate development, leasing and management firm, with headquarters in New York City, London and Mexico City. Thor Equities owns property in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, India and Latin America, including Londo ...

, led by

Joseph Sitt Joseph J. Sitt (born 1964) is an American real estate investor, founder of the retail chain Ashley Stewart, and founder of global real estate company Thor Equities. Early life and education Sitt was born in 1964 near Coney Island, Brooklyn

, agreed to buy the Milford Plaza's commercial condominium in 2013. The sale was finalized in April 2014, when Thor paid $64 million. Thor Equities subsequently received a $50 million mortgage loan for the site from

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

. The City Kitchen food court opened at the base of the Row NYC in March 2015, and Thor placed the commercial condominium for sale that June, with an asking price of $100 million. In February 2019, Highgate and Rockpoint placed the final piece of the property for sale, the hotel rooms, for $220 million. By the following year, Colony Credit Real Estate, whose predecessor NorthStar had provided a $255 million mortgage for the land, was looking to sell the mortgage for as little as $50 million. The hotel was forced to close temporarily in 2020 due to the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic in New York City The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...

. Werner began falling behind on mortgage payments in May 2020. The

Paramount Group Paramount Group is a Global Aerospace & Defence group of companies operating in the global defence, internal security and peacekeeping industries. Established in South Africa in 1994, it offers a range of military aircraft, armoured vehicles, ma ...

, which had lent $80 million to Thor Equities for the Row NYC's commercial condominium, foreclosed on the condominium in April 2022. At the time, the condominium was valued as $45 million, about 30 percent less than the price Thor had paid in 2014.

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

moved to foreclose on Werner's loan in September 2022. Following an influx of

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...

to New York City in mid-2022, city officials considered converting part of the Row NYC into temporary housing for 700 asylum seekers that year.

Critical reception

When the hotel opened, W. Parker Chase described the hotel as serving "the better element of the Masses". By contrast,

George S. Chappell George Shepard Chappell, AIA (January 2, 1877 – November 25, 1946) was an American architect, parodist, journalist (with the magazine '' Vanity Fair'') and author. He is known as the author of numerous books, including a travel series parody p ...

, writing for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' under the pseudonym "T-Square", wrote that the hotel was "very big without being especially impressive". Another ''New Yorker'' article stated of the interior: "Some will say that the modernity here exemplified is confusing; some will miss the uniformity of effect that a Georgian interior, for example, presents. But one feels that in the lobby of the new hotel, a vivid contemporary dramatization of New York has been achieved." In 1980, a ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' critic said that "the three-decker, red-and-velvet, glass-and-brass velvet lobby is blinding, but rooms are tasteful." The ''Chicago Tribune'' wrote in 1981 that the "rooms are spacious and pleasant" and that the hotel benefited from its proximity to Broadway theaters. Another writer for ''Newsday'' said that the Milford Plaza, along with the nearby

New Amsterdam Theatre The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater on 214 West 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the New Amsterdam was built from ...

, ranked among the "imposing, traditional Times Square buildings with classical features". Conversely, a reviewer for

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

wrote of the hotel in the late 1980s: "I'd rather camp out in the

Port Authority In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other t ...

", referring to the nearby bus terminal. A writer for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said in 1985 that, although the rooms were cheap, the hotel had a "bare minimum" of amenities in its bathrooms.

Lewis Grizzard Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. (October 20, 1946 – March 20, 1994) was an American writer and humorist, known for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the U.S. Southern states, American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper ...

of ''

The Atlanta Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' wrote an especially negative review of the Milford Plaza in 1990, in which he wrote: "For 50 bucks you can stay in the Milford Plaza ..any hotel in Manhattan that would offer you a room at that meager cost might also offer you the risk of catching Lyme disease." This review prompted the Milsteins to sue Grizzard for defamation in 1991. A writer for ''New York'' magazine wrote: "Truthfully, the reason most people stay here is location; its proximity to the city’s brightest marquees ensures theatergoers can be in bed shortly after the curtain drops. Otherwise, the 1,300 rooms are slightly antiquated."

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Row NYC Hotel
{{Portal bar, Architecture, Hotels, New York City 1928 establishments in New York City Eighth Avenue (Manhattan) Hotel buildings completed in 1928 Hotels established in 1928 Hotels in Manhattan Theater District, Manhattan