NEW YORK— As NYC continues its recovery efforts, returning business people and increased Lower Manhattan tourists will be greeted by reopened roads, restaurants and hotels— including the Embassy Suites Hotel New York City, which is expected to join the ranks of reopened properties on May 1. As businesses begin returning to their Lower Manhattan offices, including American Express and Merrill Lynch (both located across from the World Trade Center site), hotels are hoping their travel budgets will return with them. With the Marriott Financial Center and the new Ritz-Carlton Battery Park City coming on line in January, Hilton Hotels Corp. is aggressively working to get its hotels cleaned up, renovated, and reopened. First on Hiltons list is the mixed-use Embassy Suites, which houses several restaurants and a Kinkos that have already reopened, along with a movie theater that is slated to reopen in early May after the rebirth of the hotel. While the city and its residents are anxious to see the downtown area reborn, the reopening of the Embassy Suites has attracted some controversial media attention due to Salvation Army tents still located in the parking lot near the hotel. While the lot is not owned or used by the hotel, it is situated in front of the property’s main entrance, something the city perceived to be hindering the hotel’s reopening. A recent report on Time Warner’s NY1 stated that the Battery Park City Authority had donated the space for the tents, which provide food and showers for rescue workers after the attacks, but now wanted to turn the land back into a parking lot. While the city originally told recovery workers the tents would come down in mid-April, Messinger said he believes they may have been given an extension. Cleanup efforts at Ground Zero are expected to be complete by the end of May, said reports. “It’s a controversial issue and we haven’t taken a position on it,” he stated, noting that the hotel could operate fully without the use of the parking lot. In fact Hilton offered a statement last week saying, “While we appreciate the Port Authority’s concerns that the parking lot may be useful for our reopening efforts, the hotel does not require use of this lot for its guests. Furthermore, the hotel did not participate in any way with the decision to remove the tents.” Located directly across from the World Trade Center site, the Embassy Suites surprisingly suffered proportionately less damage than the surrounding buildings in the area. It only lost one window in its movie theater, and received minor dust and debris damage in its guestrooms— a result of partially opened windows on 9/11, a day when the hotel was nearly sold out. Most of the hotel’s cleanup was focused on the furniture and finishes in the lobby and public spaces. This was not the case at the Millenium Hilton, located only a few feet from Ground Zero. After early threats that the building could collapse, the hotel has since been found to be structurally sound. However, the property lost approximately 30% of its windows, causing significant interior damage. Half of the windows have since been replaced. “A fairly large amount of dust, dirt and debris came through the property,” said Paul Underhill, president of Millennium & Copthorne, owners of the hotel. Despite the seven months that have past since Sept. 11, M&C is still struggling to gain sufficient access to hotel in order to increase its refurbishment efforts. In fact, to date, no interior cleanup has yet to commence. “We’re still in the construction zone,” stated Underhill, explaining that while the surrounding streets have been reopened, the city-made viewing platform for Ground Zero was constructed directly along the hotel blocking access to the property’s loading docks. With visitors now able to walk directly up to the fenced-in World Trade Center area, “the platform has outlived its usefulness,” he remarked. Despite the n
Embassy Suites NYC Overlooks Salvation Army Tents