The W Hotel Downtown Won't Reopen

The W Hotel Downtown Manhattan
The W Hotel At 8 Albany St. In Downtown Manhattan, Which Has Permanently Closed.

The Marriott-owned W Hotel in lower Manhattan won’t open its doors again, according to labor filings recorded this week.

The 217-room hotel at 8 Albany St. will permanently close on Oct. 13, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining notice filed by Starwood Company & Resorts, which Marriott International acquired in 2015. The closure affects 137 hotel workers.

Marriott did not return Bisnow’s requests for comment.

The downtown W Hotel is the latest hotel to announce it will remain closed: in April, the Maxwell Hotel on 12 East 53rd St. announced it would shutter permanently, while The Omni Berkshire Place hotel on 21 East 52nd Street did so in June.

Other pricey hotels — such as The Mark on the Upper East Side — have defaulted on their mortgages, prompting mezzanine lenders to initiate foreclosure proceedings in an attempt to gain control of the property. The Mark has since reopened.

With tourism significantly down, experts say 20% of hotels across the city could potentially never reopen.

Hotel occupancy rates have been low since March. STR Senior Vice President Jan Frietag told Bisnow in an interview earlier this month that the market data group predicts overall occupancy this year will average 42% to 43% in hotels that remain open, he said. Hotel owners are not optimistic about the remainder of the year.

“I think many folks are writing off 2020 and hoping for a reset come Jan. 1, so that’s the bad news,” LW Hospitality Advisors CEO Dan Lesser told Bisnow in an interview earlier this month. “But the good news is that it will end at some point. ... There is so much pent-up demand out there, and there will be more by the end of the year.”

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's New York Newsletters
Related Stories

NYC Office Investor Warns It Could Go Under As Defaults Pile Up

Sixty Beverly Hills Hotel Heads Back To Special Servicing

Controversial $18M Charlotte-Area Hotel Project Gets Rezoning Approval

Chetrit Group 'Being Dissolved' As Family Turmoil Spirals

Century 21 Retail Redevelopment Advances With New Financing, Leases: The N.Y. Deal Sheet

CGI Merchant Had A-Rod's Backing And A $650M Fund. Then It Bought Trump's D.C. Hotel And It All Fell Apart

Oceanwide Buyers Want Tax Incentives For 184-Room Hotel

Maturing Debt Triggers Wave Of Distressed Hotel Sales Across California

Bally's Debt Obligations Raise Doubts Over Casino Operator's Future

Tax Break Fight Threatens Development In Housing-Starved Long Island

Vornado, Related's Google-Anchored Office Building Faces 'Imminent Default'

KHP Sells West Hollywood Kimpton To Japanese Hotel Company For $63M