Six months ago, a couple of dozen hotels were in the pipeline for Brooklyn. Now, says the New York Post, only seven will see the light of day. According to Sean Hennessey, CEO of Lodging Advisors, 2,000 or so of the 5,000 planned new rooms will open, including 1,146 of the 1,976 rooms slated for Downtown Brooklyn. Apparently the rooms we do have, including the 637 at the Downtown Marriott, are 80 to 85 percent full most of the time, but the money has dried up. “Unfortunately the capital market treats the hotel industry very reciprocally, and it seems like our run of good fortune has come to a halt and that it’ll probably be a while before we see a new project funded and moving forward again,” said Hennessey. What Hennessey also told the crowd but the Post didn’t include in its article was that he thought there was room in the Brooklyn market for a couple of smaller boutique hotels. This must have brought a smile to the face of Two Trees’ Jed Walentas, who was sitting in the audience and is planning to convert an old brick commercial building on North 11th Street in Williamsburg into just such a hotel.
BKLYN Inn For Trouble [NY Post]
Bushwick Hotel. Photo by bitchcakesny.