Airbnb-Backed Startup Takes Over Floors Of FiDi Skyscraper

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — A hospitality start-up backed in part by Airbnb is coming to the Financial District.

Lyric Hospitality, a luxury hotel start-up targeted at business travelers, will take over four floors at 70 Pine St., a Financial District skyscraper re-purposed into apartments in recent years. Previously, the third through sixth floors were where Furnished Quarters operated Q&A Residential Hotel for stays in full-sized apartments since 2015, according to a Furnished Quarters' news release.

This summer and early fall, Lyric will redo the apartments into the company's "creative suites." The suites are designed as luxury apartments with workspace made to for short and longterm stays.

Lyric will open 132 suites at the landmarked tower, Crain's New York Business reported. The company will operate under a standard hotel license from Q&A Residential Hotel, according to Crain's.

"Hotel rooms historically have given people really a bed and TV and not a lot more," Joe Fraiman, Lyric's founder, told Crain's. "We think that travelers today want a lot more than that."

Crain's reported rooms in New York will range between $200 and $500 a night.

The luxury hospitality start-up launched in 2015, Wall Street Journal reported last month. The company leases directly from landlords and then makes upgrades to the units with luxury amenities like Casper mattresses and linen sheets. Then, Lyric rents out the units for short- and long-term stays — from one night to more than 200, the Journal reported.

The company got a $160 million investment from Airbnb, Tishman Speyer, RXR Realty, among others.