UWS Hotelier Files To Demolish Alleged Illegal Hotel: Reports

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side hotelier who has been hit with fines for violating the city's short-term rental laws has filed plans to demolish the hotel that has been the source of most of his fines, according to reports and public records.

Hank Fried applied for permits to partially demolish a building on the corner of Broadway and West 103rd Street by removing all but the first floor, according to plans filed in late February witht the city Department of Buildings. The demolition would "eliminate" all the single-room-occupancy housing units in the building, which is the site of Fried's Marrakesh Hotel, according to the demolition plans.

The Departmnet of Buildings hit Fried with a number of violations at the property as recently as September. Violations included illegal transient use, work without a permit and illegal occupancy related to the Marrakech Hotel, and carried potential fines of up to $55,000.

The city first sued Fried in February of 2017 for violating short-term rental laws by listing rooms at the Marrakech Hotel on sites like Expedia, Kayak and Orbitz.

Whether or not the city will allow Fried to demolish the building remains to be seen. City officials told neighborhood publication the West Side Rag that the ideal outcome of the lawsuit is to preserve the building's residential component as affordable housing.

"The City remains committed to preserving 300 units of permanent housing," Alacia Lauer, a spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, told the West Side Rag.

City records show that Fried previously applied for similar demolition permits in 2012 but revoked the plan in 2017. A stop work order currently exists for the site due to the building's operation as an illegal hotel, according to DOB records.

The city's lawsuit against Fried is ongoing and both parties will appear in front of a judge next week for a ruling on a motion in the suit, the West Side Rag reported.

Read the West Side Rag's full report here.