Once described as “one of the pillars of dignity that line Central Park South,” the Essex House, opened in 1931, has endured as one of New York’s most stylish hotels. This April, the 40-story, 509-room Art Deco tower became the JW Marriott Essex House, with Jon Bon Jovi as the surprise performer on opening night.
The rocker’s set included the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun, a song fittingly describing the dawning of a brand-new Gotham. As with the Essex House, what’s old is new in New York, and what’s new is game-changing even by the city’s standards.
In 2006, which saw a record-setting 43.8 million visitors, the city put tourism, meetings and conventions included, atop its growth agenda. Targeting 50 million visitors by 2015, the city’s marketing and tourism organization, NYC & Company, expanded its reach with new offices around the globe. The strategy far exceeded expectations. After hitting 52 million visitors last year, the revised target is now 55 million.
From major subway projects to skyline-changing towers rising across the city, Gotham, increasingly pedestrianized, rerouted and connected, is rapidly realizing its goal of becoming a five-borough destination.
One local leader experiencing the growth first-hand is Paul Hurley, president of the United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York.
“In highly trafficked areas, [group] dining often represents significantly more than 30 percent of a restaurant’s business,” says Hurley, a serial restaurateur whose swank new 247-seat Desmond’s Steakhouse on Seventh Avenue features a 70-foot marble-topped bar and private group space. “New York City’s tourism growth continues to directly benefit our more than 3,000 members throughout the five boroughs.”
As Gotham dramatically evolves, connections to the past remain alive in Long Island, where the new Great Gatsby movie is rekindling interest in the region’s fabled Gold Coast, and in Westchester County, offering its own set of gilded treasures. PageBreak
New Heights
This May, workers secured the final 408-foot spire atop One World Trade Center, officially bringing the 104-floor tower to its full height of 1,776 feet. The $3.8 billion skyscraper, now America’s tallest, is on course to receive tenants next year, followed by the 2015 opening of One World Observatory, a 360-degree experience on floors 100 to 102 that will include dining and event space.
With 7 WTC fully leased, 4 WTC opening this year, 2 and 3 WTC rising and the new Fulton Street Transit Center (linking 12 subway lines and PATH trains) opening in 2014, downtown Manhattan’s rebirth is nearing completion more than 4,200 days after the 9/11 attacks. Media and tech firms especially are filling the void left by departed financial companies; a sure sign of confidence is Conde Nast’s relocation to One WTC from its current Times Square headquarters.
Another 21st century vision is planned for Manhattan’s West Side. Announced last December, the $15 billion Hudson Yards project will create a dazzling futuristic “mini-city” below the Javits Convention Center, including an extension of the number 7 subway line. Expanded in 2010, the convention facility, seeking LEED Silver certification, is undergoing an environmental enhancement, due for completion later this year, that includes a 292,800-square-foot green roof, one of the largest in the nation.
Meanwhile, the Roosevelt Hotel, opened in 1924 at the height of the Jazz Age, lives on as the “Grand Dame of Madison Avenue” following a recent multimillion-dollar refresh. It has 30,000 square feet of function space.
Also blooming is Brooklyn, now experiencing Manhattan-like tourism in its downtown neighborhoods and beyond. Opened in September 2012, the striking new 19,000-seat Barclays Center arena, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets (and in 2015, the NHL’s New York Islanders) has proven a to be a major success, attracting top events like a Rolling Stones concert and this August, MTV’s Video Music Awards.
“There’s so much energy, buzz and excitement around the Barclays Center,” said Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, in a recent Industry magazine interview. Referencing the borough’s “variety of new business space and hotels,” he added that Brooklyn “is a great place for industries to come and host meetings and conventions.” PageBreak
Game-Changers
Having revamped its tourism website last year, Staten Island is anticipating nearly $1 billion in private investment along its North Shore over the next decade. Construction is expected to begin early next year on a game-changing project, the New York Wheel. Targeting a spring 2016 opening, the 630-foot (roughly 60 stories) observation wheel will be the tallest in the world.
In April, the city announced plans to transform the landmark Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into the world’s largest ice rink. Targeting completion by 2017, the 750,000-square-foot Kingsbridge National Ice Center will feature nine rinks and year-round training facilities. Former New York Rangers captain Mark Messier, connected to the project, believes the venue will “transform the Bronx into the new center of ice sports in the United States.”
Offering a crop of affordable new hotels, Queens is lobbying for a new $340 million soccer stadium for New York FC, the new $100 million MLS franchise announced this May by the New York Yankees and Manchester City of the English Premier League.
To crown it all, New York and New Jersey are co-hosting the first outdoor Super Bowl of the modern era in 2014.
“From creating the NFL Experience along Broadway to opening our three new properties in Manhattan, the excitement is already building,” says Janis Milham, vice president and global brand manager for Courtyard by Marriott, official hotel sponsor of the NFL. “With more inventory than in any other Super Bowl, New York offers meeting and event planners many more opportunities and unique venue options than other cities. It promises to be a Super Bowl like no other.”
Like New York itself, it’s the kick-off to a brand new era.
Regular Meetings Focus contributor Jeff Heilman has lived in NYC since 1987.
