NEW YORK CITY—Lightstone has closed on $91 million in financing with the Bank of the Ozarks to develop the 285-room Moxy Hotel at 112-120 E. 11th St. in a partnership with Marriott. The Moxy East Village will be located across from Webster Hall, south of Union Square in the East Village.
The micro-room hotel will feature six new eating and drinking establishments for guests and locals. In the hotel's interior design, each floor will reveal a different layer in Lower Manhattan's history. It is scheduled to be completed and to open by fall 2019.
“With its lively restaurant scene and vibrant nightlife, the East Village is the perfect location for our third Moxy hotel in New York,” said Lightstone president, Mitchell Hochberg. “Featuring a large array of amenities, efficient use of space, and lounges that bring travelers and the local community together, Moxy East Village will be a dynamic addition to the neighborhood.”
On Aug. 22, 2016, activists had rallied outside the property to stop the demolition of five tenement buildings to make way for the new hotel. Groups including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Historic Districts Council, Lower East Side Preservation Initiative and the East Village Community Coalition sent a letter to the New York City Landmarks Commission to prevent the demolition of the then-existing buildings purchased by Lightstone.
Critics of the hotel development said it did not fit with the neighborhood. This included state senator Brad Hoylman, who argued that the project would “demolish neighborhood character,” as reported in Curbed New York in June 2017. Their efforts were unsuccessful and the buildings were torn down.
The community activists cried fowl pointing out David Lichtenstein, the founder and CEO of Lightstone, was a supporter of Mayor Bill de Blasio, and appointed to the New York City Economic Development Corporation's board of directors in July 2015.
Lightstone plans to develop 1,500 Moxy hotel rooms in New York City. In addition to the East Village property, this includes the 612-room flagship US property in Times Square that opened in 2017, and Moxy Chelsea scheduled to open this fall.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
