Permits Filed for Millennial Hotel to Replace 4 Historic Buildings in East Village

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Lightstone Group is moving forward with its plans to build a hotel targeted to millennials on East 11th Street between Third and Fourth avenues despite furious pushback from preservationist groups, local officials and East Village community members.

The developer filed permits this week for the Moxy hotel, revealing its plans for a 13-story hotel with 311 rooms. The space itself is only 78,361 square feet, so if you do the math, the rooms won't be very large. Because since when did millennials need a lot of space?

The hotel will have three restaurants — one in the cellar, one on the first floor, and one on the top floor, according to the permits. It will have a fitness center on the second floor and a bike storage room on the first floor, but no plans yet for a pool.

Lightstone filed plans in August to demolish four Old Law tenement brownstones at 112-120 E. 11th St. in order to build the hotel. The buildings have since been scaffolded and appear ready for demolition. They were all residential, and hundreds of tenants lost their homes. Many of their apartments were rent-stabilized.

The brownstones were built in the 19th century and designated potential historic landmarks in 2008 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Preservationists and community members were confounded by the LPC's refusal to respond to their requests for historic designation of the buildings. Around 100 protesters gathered outside the buildings in late August and accused Mayor Bill de Blasio of corruption since he had alleged political connections to Lightstone's CEO David Lichtenstein.

New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who attended the protest, said he is very discouraged by the city's refusal to act on the buildings.

"I understand the developer is well-connected, but that doesn't make it right," Hoylman told Patch. "And it is possible to preserve these buildings and a part of our history and still accomplish the goals the developer has set forth.

"The sad fact of the matter is, you can buy out a rent-stabilized tenant and then demolish a building, and those rent stabilized units are lost forever," Hoylman said. "That's how weak our laws are in protecting rent-stabilized apartments on a going-forward basis."

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said he is extremely saddened by the demolitions.

"It's confounding and extremely disappointing that the Mayor would do this, and the only explanation seems to be that his friend, campaign contributor, and political supporter David Lichtenstein is behind the development," Berman said in an email to Patch.

Moxy's aesthetic and marketing style is apparent in its Instagram, where you can get a preview of what's to come across the street from Webster Hall. Moxy plans to build three other hotels in Manhattan in the next few years, including one in Times Square and one in Chelsea, according to its website.

Photo by Sarah Kaufman/Patch