New York, NY When the 182-room, 83,000 s/f EVEN Hotel opened at 46 Nevins St. in downtown Brooklyn, it became the 50th hotel designed by Gene Kaufman Architect (GKA), which is led by principal and owner Gene Kaufman. The 50 hotels’ 10,300 rooms comprise almost 10% of the city’s 110,000-room inventory and 26% of the inventory New York City has added since 2003, when GKA’s first hotel opened in Chelsea. Together, the GKA hotels — 44 in Manhattan, five in Brooklyn, and one in Queens — represent more than 4 million s/f of hotel space.
The hotels designed range in size from the 45-room boutique Duane Street Hotel at 130 Duane St. to the 489-room Holiday Inn at 99 Washington Street. They include the world’s tallest Holiday Inn, a 50-story property in the Financial District; 1 Hotel Central Park, the sole Manhattan location of the upscale, eco-friendly 1 Hotels brand developed by Barry Sternlicht of Starwood Capital (not to be confused with Starwood Hotels) and its SH Group; the Viceroy Hotel on 57th St.; Hotel Williamsburg (now Chelsea Hotels’ McCarren Hotel & Pool), one of Brooklyn’s first boutique hotels; the 330-room, 233,000 s/fCrowne Plaza at John F. Kennedy International Airport; and the first two New York City locations of Choice Hotels’ Cambria Suites brand.
Another 26 GKA-designed hotels are in the works that will add almost 6,000 more rooms and 2 million s/f to the city’s hospitality portfolio. Four of the new projects will be among the city’s largest hotels, with just under 2,000 rooms and more than 700,000 s/f collectively. Three are being developed by Sam Chang of the McSam Hotel Group for the Garment District (a 612-room, 200,600 s/f Hilton DoubleTree at 350 West 40th St.; a 566-room, 194,000 s/f Marriott SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites at 338 West 36th St.; and a 447-room, 166,300 s/f as yet unbranded hotel at 350 West 39th St.) The fourth will be a 362-room, 160,700 s/f Marriott at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Maximizing Value for Developers and Tourists Alike
What has made Gene Kaufman such a sought after partner for hotel projects (the firm also has many multifamily, office, and institutional commissions) is his talent for maximizing value in a city with some of the nation’s most punishing land and construction costs. Kaufman is well known for his ability to configure hotel space in ways that yield the most rooms for the least cost, all while condensing construction schedules and adhering to the rules about “everything from ceiling heights in the lobby to room layouts” (Crain’s New York Business) set forth by the international and national hotel chains whose names adorn most of the hotels his firm designs.
Developer ABRAHAM HIDARY, CEO of Hidrock Properties, for whom Kaufman designed a Marriott Courtyard in Koreatown and a Marriott Residence Inn in Chelsea, is one of the architect’s many fans. “Gene Kaufman is a one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-generation architect,” said Hidary. “His creativity in working within the New York City building envelope and bringing so many different brands and independent hotels here has contributed to the energy and vitality of this great city.”
It is not just developers who benefit. The many select- and limited-service hotels that GKA has designed have created an unprecedented middle market for tourists who would otherwise be unable to afford New York City room rates. The surplus of rooms caused by the recent dip in hotel occupancy has made these mid-priced hotels an even bigger bargain, bringing millions of dollars into New York City’s coffers and contributing to what NYC & Company has characterized as record-breaking tourism levels.
Creating Enduring Partnerships with Developers
GKA has collaborated with many developers over the years, but there is one who has played an outsized role in the firm’s hotel work.
Since collaborating on GKA’s first hotel, a Hampton Inn that opened in Chelsea in 2003, Gene Kaufman and the McSam Hotel Group’s Sam Chang have built an unusually productive partnership. Chang, whether on his own or with John Lam of The Lam Group, Neil Shah of The Hersha Group, or Robert Indeglia of The Magna Hospitality Group, has been the developer behind 27 of the 50 GKA hotels that have opened to date. Of the 26 in the pipeline, 10 are McSam projects.
Chang said, “I have nothing but the highest praise for Gene Kaufman, especially in the area of select- and limited-service hotels. He is by far the most experienced architect in that niche, with a genius for space utilization. And his talent for working with hotel chains to make sure that both his clients and the brands get what they need is second to none.”
The many other hotel developers with whom Kaufman works run the gamut from local independents to national concerns. They include The Albanese Organization, ARK Partners, Atlantic Stars Hotels & Cruises, Atlas Hospitality, CE Renwick, Concord Development, Devli Properties, Eben Ascel, Exeter Property Group, Gemini Real Estate Advisors, Hidrock Properties, the Magna Hospitality Group, the Mehta Family, The Moinian Group, Nissim Seliktar, Soundview Real Estate Partners, Starwood Capital, and Stonebridge Companies, among many others.
Transforming Urban No-Man’s-Lands into Tourist Meccas
Of the 50 hotels designed by GKA, the 44 in Manhattan cover large swaths of the West Side and Lower Manhattan. There are 26 properties alone in Chelsea, Clinton, the Garment District, the Theater District/Times Square and Central Midtown, and 12 below 14th Street, in the Financial District, Tribeca, Hudson Square, Greenwich Village, the East Village and the Lower East Side. Another six can be found in the East 20s and 30s.
Critically, many of the hotels were built in neighborhoods once considered too out-of-the-way or lacking in amenities to be attractive to tourists. But, drawn by the unbeatable room rates, tourists flocked to hotels like The Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca, which opened 2006; the Hotel Williamsburg (now the McCarren Hotel & Pool), which opened in 2010; and The Jade Hotel in Greenwich Village, which opened in 2011.
Will Obeid, president and CEO of Arcade Capital LLC, who developed The Jade for Gemini Real Estate, “People thought we were crazy when we acquired the site and air rights for an 18-story hotel on this prime Greenwich Village block. But while the area wasn’t known for its hotels, I knew its history and charm would make it an ideal location for a boutique property. Gene was instrumental in working with me to solve complex zoning and construction issues and to address concerns of those in this exclusive residential area’s neighboring buildings. He made sure that my vision for The Jade Hotel was realized and that we got it right. He is an extremely talented architect, but I think that the greatest value he offers his many clients is that he thinks like a developer—he knows when to use the drafting pen and when to use the hammer.”
Chelsea is by far the most prominent example of a neighborhood whose fate was transformed by the arrival of GKA hotels. The first two hotels the firm ever designed—a Hampton Inn (Hilton) and a Four Points by Sheraton (Starwood)—opened in 2003 in the faded industrial wasteland that has become one of New York City’s destination neighborhoods. The middle-market guests who patronized these hotels, and the ones that followed in the years before the High Line opened in 2009, were drawn not only by the modest prices. They were also attracted by the assurance that came with brand names like Choice, IHG, Hilton, Marriott and Starwood that, despite their then-edgy locations, the hotels would be clean, comfortable and reliable.
From Top International Brands to Boutiques and Independents
Of GKA’s 50 completed hotels, 46 fly the flags of some of the world’s leading hotel companies, including IHG (15), Hilton (12), Starwood (7), Marriott (6), Choice (3), Hyatt (1), Wyndham (1) and Viceroy (1). Another 16 hotels carrying several of those brand names are under construction or in design.
GKA also designed 1 Hotel Central Park, the only Manhattan location of the SH Group’s high-end, eco-friendly 1 Hotels brand; the Duane Street Hotel; Hotel 373 Fifth Ave.; and the Hotel Williamsburg (now the McCarren Hotel & Pool), one of Brooklyn’s first boutique hotels. The firm is currently at work on a variety of other boutique and independent hotel projects.
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