New Boutique Hotel Planned For Trendy Lower Manhattan

NEW YORK— A new boutique hotel is set to debut here in the city’s up-and-coming Meatpacking District, marking the first hotel project planned for the trendy neighborhood. Nestled in the West Village, the city’s Meatpacking District has come alive in recent years with a bevy of new restaurants, local celebrities, and the cast of MTV’s Real World moving in and turning abandoned factories into luxury lofts and posh meeting places. The Hotel Gansevoort, located on Ninth Ave. and 13th Street, was slated to break ground in September, but the 186-room new construction hotel was postponed due to the terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan. The project is now expected to begin construction this spring, under the direction of architect Stephen B. Jacobs and his wife, interior designer Andi Pepper. The modern, free-standing building of zinc-colored metal panels, glass-sheathed balconies, and projection bay windows, is expected to bring a 21st Century look to an Old World area lined with cobblestone streets. “The cobblestone theme will remain through the exterior paving material,” said Jacobs. “But we’re not attempting to create an old New York feel. It’s a new century and we’re taking a new minimalist, modern approach.” Jacobs and Pepper have worked together on a number of hotel projects including the boutique Library Hotel and the Hotel Giraffe in Manhattan. “The problems with the boutique hotel industry is interfacing the architecture and the interior design,” said Jacobs. “These hotels have 1,001 details in every room and these details become a nightmare of coordination. Andi and I can tackle these issues.” In fact, the entire design of the new hotel revolved around an interior design concept that originated at one of their former hotel project collaborations. “It’s a very interesting design that was inspired by the bay window room at the Library Hotel,” said Jacobs. Each guestroom offers a large bay window featuring a love seat within the curve of the window that can be opened into a sleeper. “The bay window motif was used to design the building,” said Jacobs, who noted much of the hotel’s design revolved around light and glass. The hotel’s lobby entrance will include internal illuminated glass columns and a 14-foot revolving door. One-third of the hotel’s rooms will have balconies, and two corner suites on each floor will offer a living room and bedroom, with an available adjoining guestroom. A king bed and nine-foot ceilings are also standard guestroom features. The hotel will also offer Jacob’s and Pepper’s signature rooftop, featuring a contemporary roof garden and hospitality suite with 20-foot ceilings and dramatic views of Manhattan. In addition, within a year-round rooftop enclosure will be a 45-foot swimming pool with underwater music. The interior of the hotel was designed to be minimalist with neutral tones, like gray, mixed with blackberry accents. Guestrooms will feature beds with leather and fabric in the headboard, armoire and wall coverings with glass accents, and sheets of backlit glass in muted colors will replace conventional doors. Bathrooms will offer contrasting sheathed and textured walls, ceramic interiors, stainless steel sinks, and Carrera marble. The Hotel Gansevoort, which has been in the planning stages for almost a year, is being developed by William and Michael Achenbaum of WSA Management. In addition to their recent Meatpacking District hotel project, Jacobs and Pepper have received a lot of attention recently for their existing Manhattan projects. After being selected as a finalist last year for the International Hotel/Motel and Restaurant Show’s Gold Key Award for their Hotel Giraffe project, Jacobs and Pepper have been nominated as a finalist again this year for the Library Hotel. Awards will be decided this weekend during the IH/M&RS at New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center.