Ace Hotel New York
Ace Hotel (formerly The Hotel Breslin)
20 West 29TH Street
New York, NY
The Broadway facade - Ace Hotel.
---------------------
Prior to the opening of the 269 room Ace Hotel at the corner of Broadway and 29th Street in 2009 - there was the Hotel Breslin.
The Hotel Breslin was built by United States Realty & Improvement Company in 1904 on the site of the former Sturtevant House Hotel. Upon its completion, the hotel was leased to prominent New York hotelier, Colonel James H. Breslin, for whom the hotel is named.
Breslin also operated the Gilsey House and the Hotel Walcott.
The architectural firm Clinton & Russell designed the Beaux-arts 12-story brick and terra cotta building. The firm also designed the Hotel Astor in Times Square and the landmark Apthorp Apartments on New York's West Side. The hotel was constructed on a trapezoidal lot at an estimated cost of $1 million.
The Breslin's mansard roof and corner cap were its signature attributes.
Upon its opening in 1904, the Breslin was noted for its salons and cafes, and for its unusual "ladies' grill room." The property was situated in the Times Square of the turn of the century -- an area full of clubs and restaurants, and New York's first neighborhood to be electrified with lighting and signage.
A block over (West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue) was Tin Pan Alley - a neighborhood flush with music publishers and songwriters that were the center of American popular music in the early 20th Century. It was thought the term Tin Pan Alley referred to the thin, tinny tone quality of cheap upright pianos used in music publisher's offices.
In 1906 Clinton & Russell were commissioned to extend the hotel to the south on 29th Street. It was promised to "harmonize" the additions building materials with the old building.
According to a 2001 New York Landmarks Preservation Commission Report the Hotel Breslin remains remarkably intact on the exterior above the first floor.
Following Breslin's passing in 1906 he was succeeded by Walter E. Hildreth as president of the Breslin Hotel Company.
Jim Breslin died of Bright's disease at his Hotel Wolcott apartment. Breslin was president of the Hotel Men's Association. Breslin's first job in the hotel industry was as a bellboy at the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York. According to the NY Times "... to have been one of Jim Breslin's employees and with a recommendation from him meant a job in any hotel in the United States and at once..."
In 1911 Walter Hildreth representing Breslin Hotel Company and the United States Realty & Improvement Company sold the 400 room hotel for approximately $3,000,000 to an entity known as Hotel Operating Associates. According to the NY Times D.V. Mulligan of the Russell House Hotel, Ottawa, Canada was appointed the hotel manager. For many decades the Russell House served as Ottawa's foremost hotel. Mulligan was a well-known Canadian hotelier and he planned to focus on attracting Canadian businessmen to the Breslin.
Manager Mulligan received some publicity regarding his attempts to make the Breslin a "no tipping hotel". His thought was such a policy would increase business. Mulligan fired several hat check girls who accepted tips from the patrons, but he also understood he could not dictate to his patrons how to spend their money and it was useless to prohibit employees from receiving tips. So in 1913 he implemented a policy of reducing by 10% every restaurant bill - with the hope that most patrons would accept the reduction as a notice to leave a 10% tip in cash. It is not known how long he continued reducing restaurant bills by 10%.
In 1925 the Breslin Hotel was sold to Paul A. McGolrick and Sidney Claman, owner of the Times Square Hotel, purchased the Breslin in 1937. In 1955 it was sold to Max A. Goldbaum and three years later, in 1958, Goldbaum leased the hotel to the Beryl-Jason Holding Corporation. Edward Haddad, the principal with Broadway Breslin Associates, secured a 99-year lease on the Hotel Breslin in the 1950s. In time the building began to be known as the Broadway Breslin. It was known for very cheap monthly housing in a very good location.
By 2006 the Breslin Apartments had degraded to a rent-stabilized single-occupancy dive.
In April 2006, the hotel’s principal owner, Edward Haddad and GFI Capital Resources Group, took the first steps toward converting the shabby Breslin from an old single-room occupancy building to a luxury hotel.
In 2006, GFI Real Estate Partners bought the Breslin’s lease from landlord Edward Haddad for $40 million - at the height of the market. Haddad had put little work or money into the building for several years. A joint venture partner with GFI Capital in the Ace Hotel as well as in the Standard New York in the meatpacking district is Dune Capital Management who manages a real estate opportunity fund.
GFI Development secured another $35 million to finance its renovation.
In July 2007 GFI principals Andrew Zobler and Allen Gross (founder, CEO and President, GFI Capital Resources Group, Inc.) contracted Alex Calderwood, the co-founder of the Ace Hotel Group, to move to New York in early 2008 to take over management of the Breslin and its multi-million dollar reconstruction and transition.
Andrew Zobler is the founder The Sydell Group. Previously Zobler was a Partner, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of André Balazs Properties and also was with Starwood Hotels & Resorts as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development.
Alex Calderwood along with two friends, Wade Weigel and Doug Herrick founded Ace Hotels in 1999. Their first hotel was the Ace Seattle, a 28-room hotel in a former downtown halfway house. According to Alex Calderwood, Ace’s Modus operandi is straightforward: “Taking characterful old buildings in emerging neighborhoods and doing as much as we could with the existing infrastructure on a shoestring budget.”
Taking over a fully occupied, 344-unit building, GFI offered its rent stabilized residents $3,000 to move out. Reportedly the buyout amounts grew to $50,000 or more.
An attorney for the tenants brought suit to prevent "greedy big business" from turning the Breslin and its residents on its side. The tenants even produced a video “Voices of the Breslin” - a documentary about the disappearance of affordable housing in New York. In early 2008 about 150 tenants had accepted buyout agreements to move out yet many desired to stay. According to Alex Calderwood “The people who’ve remained, they get a brand-new HVAC system, brand-new windows. They have an option to move to a completely renovated unit if they want.”
As of March 2011 roughly 30 rent-stabilized tenants still live in the hotel, some of whom pay just $500 a month for their apartment.
Other notable New York City hotels with holdover tenants include the Carlyle Hotel and the Gramercy Park Hotel.
In May 2009, after court struggles and extensive renovations by architectural firm Roman & Williams, the trendy Ace Hotel was completed. Upscale shops replaced the street level stores and the sleek modern hotel rooms, purportedly available for under $300 per night, now attract a young, hip crowd.
Roman and Williams also completed the Royalton Hotel in 2007 and the Standard Hotel in 2009.
The lobby has three areas - the welcome area, the work-table area and in the back a lobby bar. The hotel rooms range from bunk rooms to lofts, and everything in between. The guest rooms are described as efficient. A clothes rack Roman & Williams made from bent plumbing pipes replaces a closet. Pipes also appear on bath accessories and as desk legs. Chalkboard paint on the walls and paintings & murals by emerging artists individualize each room. Rooms feature vintage furniture, Mascioni sheets and some rooms come with guitars, turntables and 50's Retro style refrigerators.
Proprietors’ restaurateur Ken Friedman and Chef April Bloomfield, of The Spotted Pig fame, operate The Breslin, a 130 seat no-reservation restaurant on the ground-floor which has a turn-of- the-century New York look. Also, April Bloomfield of the Breslin and Josh Even of the Spotted Pig have designed and created the menus for John Dory Oyster Bar in the Ace Hotel.
Portland coffee mecca Stumptown Coffee Roasters has its first Manhattan outlet in the Ace Hotel.
Ace Hotel's opening manager is Jan Rozenveld. Previously Rozenveld was GM at The Greenwich Hotel in NYC and GM at The Tides South Beach, Miami.
GFI Hotel Company was formed in 2008 as a division of GFI Development Company to manage and oversee hotels. Michael Rawson is president of GFI Hotels. Since its inception, GFI Hotel Company has opened two Ace Hotels (Palm Springs and NYC) and is currently developing a flagship, The NoMad Hotel in NYC, the former Johnston Building at 28th and Broadway. In February 2011 Andrew Zobler and L.A. billionaire Ronald Burkle co-partnered on the purchase of the Hotel Theodore (formerly the Mondrian) in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Photos and text compiled by Dick Johnson
November, 2011
richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com
Ace Hotel New York
Ace Hotel (formerly The Hotel Breslin)
20 West 29TH Street
New York, NY
The Broadway facade - Ace Hotel.
---------------------
Prior to the opening of the 269 room Ace Hotel at the corner of Broadway and 29th Street in 2009 - there was the Hotel Breslin.
The Hotel Breslin was built by United States Realty & Improvement Company in 1904 on the site of the former Sturtevant House Hotel. Upon its completion, the hotel was leased to prominent New York hotelier, Colonel James H. Breslin, for whom the hotel is named.
Breslin also operated the Gilsey House and the Hotel Walcott.
The architectural firm Clinton & Russell designed the Beaux-arts 12-story brick and terra cotta building. The firm also designed the Hotel Astor in Times Square and the landmark Apthorp Apartments on New York's West Side. The hotel was constructed on a trapezoidal lot at an estimated cost of $1 million.
The Breslin's mansard roof and corner cap were its signature attributes.
Upon its opening in 1904, the Breslin was noted for its salons and cafes, and for its unusual "ladies' grill room." The property was situated in the Times Square of the turn of the century -- an area full of clubs and restaurants, and New York's first neighborhood to be electrified with lighting and signage.
A block over (West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue) was Tin Pan Alley - a neighborhood flush with music publishers and songwriters that were the center of American popular music in the early 20th Century. It was thought the term Tin Pan Alley referred to the thin, tinny tone quality of cheap upright pianos used in music publisher's offices.
In 1906 Clinton & Russell were commissioned to extend the hotel to the south on 29th Street. It was promised to "harmonize" the additions building materials with the old building.
According to a 2001 New York Landmarks Preservation Commission Report the Hotel Breslin remains remarkably intact on the exterior above the first floor.
Following Breslin's passing in 1906 he was succeeded by Walter E. Hildreth as president of the Breslin Hotel Company.
Jim Breslin died of Bright's disease at his Hotel Wolcott apartment. Breslin was president of the Hotel Men's Association. Breslin's first job in the hotel industry was as a bellboy at the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York. According to the NY Times "... to have been one of Jim Breslin's employees and with a recommendation from him meant a job in any hotel in the United States and at once..."
In 1911 Walter Hildreth representing Breslin Hotel Company and the United States Realty & Improvement Company sold the 400 room hotel for approximately $3,000,000 to an entity known as Hotel Operating Associates. According to the NY Times D.V. Mulligan of the Russell House Hotel, Ottawa, Canada was appointed the hotel manager. For many decades the Russell House served as Ottawa's foremost hotel. Mulligan was a well-known Canadian hotelier and he planned to focus on attracting Canadian businessmen to the Breslin.
Manager Mulligan received some publicity regarding his attempts to make the Breslin a "no tipping hotel". His thought was such a policy would increase business. Mulligan fired several hat check girls who accepted tips from the patrons, but he also understood he could not dictate to his patrons how to spend their money and it was useless to prohibit employees from receiving tips. So in 1913 he implemented a policy of reducing by 10% every restaurant bill - with the hope that most patrons would accept the reduction as a notice to leave a 10% tip in cash. It is not known how long he continued reducing restaurant bills by 10%.
In 1925 the Breslin Hotel was sold to Paul A. McGolrick and Sidney Claman, owner of the Times Square Hotel, purchased the Breslin in 1937. In 1955 it was sold to Max A. Goldbaum and three years later, in 1958, Goldbaum leased the hotel to the Beryl-Jason Holding Corporation. Edward Haddad, the principal with Broadway Breslin Associates, secured a 99-year lease on the Hotel Breslin in the 1950s. In time the building began to be known as the Broadway Breslin. It was known for very cheap monthly housing in a very good location.
By 2006 the Breslin Apartments had degraded to a rent-stabilized single-occupancy dive.
In April 2006, the hotel’s principal owner, Edward Haddad and GFI Capital Resources Group, took the first steps toward converting the shabby Breslin from an old single-room occupancy building to a luxury hotel.
In 2006, GFI Real Estate Partners bought the Breslin’s lease from landlord Edward Haddad for $40 million - at the height of the market. Haddad had put little work or money into the building for several years. A joint venture partner with GFI Capital in the Ace Hotel as well as in the Standard New York in the meatpacking district is Dune Capital Management who manages a real estate opportunity fund.
GFI Development secured another $35 million to finance its renovation.
In July 2007 GFI principals Andrew Zobler and Allen Gross (founder, CEO and President, GFI Capital Resources Group, Inc.) contracted Alex Calderwood, the co-founder of the Ace Hotel Group, to move to New York in early 2008 to take over management of the Breslin and its multi-million dollar reconstruction and transition.
Andrew Zobler is the founder The Sydell Group. Previously Zobler was a Partner, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of André Balazs Properties and also was with Starwood Hotels & Resorts as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development.
Alex Calderwood along with two friends, Wade Weigel and Doug Herrick founded Ace Hotels in 1999. Their first hotel was the Ace Seattle, a 28-room hotel in a former downtown halfway house. According to Alex Calderwood, Ace’s Modus operandi is straightforward: “Taking characterful old buildings in emerging neighborhoods and doing as much as we could with the existing infrastructure on a shoestring budget.”
Taking over a fully occupied, 344-unit building, GFI offered its rent stabilized residents $3,000 to move out. Reportedly the buyout amounts grew to $50,000 or more.
An attorney for the tenants brought suit to prevent "greedy big business" from turning the Breslin and its residents on its side. The tenants even produced a video “Voices of the Breslin” - a documentary about the disappearance of affordable housing in New York. In early 2008 about 150 tenants had accepted buyout agreements to move out yet many desired to stay. According to Alex Calderwood “The people who’ve remained, they get a brand-new HVAC system, brand-new windows. They have an option to move to a completely renovated unit if they want.”
As of March 2011 roughly 30 rent-stabilized tenants still live in the hotel, some of whom pay just $500 a month for their apartment.
Other notable New York City hotels with holdover tenants include the Carlyle Hotel and the Gramercy Park Hotel.
In May 2009, after court struggles and extensive renovations by architectural firm Roman & Williams, the trendy Ace Hotel was completed. Upscale shops replaced the street level stores and the sleek modern hotel rooms, purportedly available for under $300 per night, now attract a young, hip crowd.
Roman and Williams also completed the Royalton Hotel in 2007 and the Standard Hotel in 2009.
The lobby has three areas - the welcome area, the work-table area and in the back a lobby bar. The hotel rooms range from bunk rooms to lofts, and everything in between. The guest rooms are described as efficient. A clothes rack Roman & Williams made from bent plumbing pipes replaces a closet. Pipes also appear on bath accessories and as desk legs. Chalkboard paint on the walls and paintings & murals by emerging artists individualize each room. Rooms feature vintage furniture, Mascioni sheets and some rooms come with guitars, turntables and 50's Retro style refrigerators.
Proprietors’ restaurateur Ken Friedman and Chef April Bloomfield, of The Spotted Pig fame, operate The Breslin, a 130 seat no-reservation restaurant on the ground-floor which has a turn-of- the-century New York look. Also, April Bloomfield of the Breslin and Josh Even of the Spotted Pig have designed and created the menus for John Dory Oyster Bar in the Ace Hotel.
Portland coffee mecca Stumptown Coffee Roasters has its first Manhattan outlet in the Ace Hotel.
Ace Hotel's opening manager is Jan Rozenveld. Previously Rozenveld was GM at The Greenwich Hotel in NYC and GM at The Tides South Beach, Miami.
GFI Hotel Company was formed in 2008 as a division of GFI Development Company to manage and oversee hotels. Michael Rawson is president of GFI Hotels. Since its inception, GFI Hotel Company has opened two Ace Hotels (Palm Springs and NYC) and is currently developing a flagship, The NoMad Hotel in NYC, the former Johnston Building at 28th and Broadway. In February 2011 Andrew Zobler and L.A. billionaire Ronald Burkle co-partnered on the purchase of the Hotel Theodore (formerly the Mondrian) in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Photos and text compiled by Dick Johnson
November, 2011
richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com