CBS New York: New York Reports Most Single-Day New COVID Cases Since Start Of Pandemic, Slowing Manhattan’s Economic Comeback By ALICE GAINER December 17, 2021 6:36 PM New York hit its highest reporting of single-day COVID cases since the beginning of the pandemic Friday. Gov. Kathy Hochul said there were more than 21,000 new infections Thursday and announced 40 new pop-up vaccine sites will open statewide. Hochul also said she wants the definition of “fully vaccinated” against COVID to include a booster shot. “We’re working on that. The only reason we have to wait is that it’s going to be a little bit tricky to work out the rules because some people aren’t eligible to have the booster shot yet,” Hochul said. Health care workers, for example, who were mandated to receive their first dose by the end of September are not yet eligible for boosters. The governor said she does not see another shutdown in the state’s future, adding the boosters and wearing masks will help fight the variants. But the surge of positive cases caused Radio City Music Hall to cancel the season’s remaining performances of “The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” – the latest in a growing number of shutdowns impacting New York City’s economy. The area around Rockefeller Center and Radio City was still busy with tourists, but not as crowded as it would normally be, CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported. Some people were already seated, others were in line outside when they found out. “They just came to the back of the line, and the were like, ‘It’s canceled.’ And we were like, ‘What?’” said Anna Wilke. Radio City and several Broadway shows are closed. Some businesses are now delaying a return to office and holiday parties are being canceled. All week long, there have been lines outside COVID testing sites in the city as this concern over the rising cases comes just a week before Christmas Eve and family gatherings. “New York City in particular is basically getting a sort of a perfect storm of office workers and tourists just not showing up and all these personal services and restaurants, hotels and such are suffering,” said Jason Bram of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Vijay Dandapani is president and CEO of the Hotel Association of NYC. He said, last week the city had its best occupancy rate since the pandemic started. “The occupancy was 81%,” Dandapani said. “This current weekend that’s coming is still OK… We are definitely concerned about offices being empty.” The Partnership for New York City surveyed major employers at the end of October. Of Manhattan’s one million office workers, 28% were at the workplace on an average weekday with 49% expected by the end of January. Now those numbers are rolling back. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Manhattan’s economy has been hit harder than the outer boroughs. Northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, Connecticut benefitted from that. “A combination of workers who had been commuting into New York City on a daily basis that are now working from home, and generating spending in that local economy,” said Jaison Abel from The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Some tourists are still spending money on hotels and going out to eat even though their scheduled shows were canceled.

New York hit its highest reporting of single-day COVID cases since the beginning of the pandemic Friday.

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January 7, 2022

Hospitality Net: NYC hotels face latest COVID challenge December 27, 2021 Some 100 city hotels were forced to shut their doors due to the pandemic, and those that survived are now pushing to lower crushing property taxes, according to an industry group. Hotels were starting to bounce back in early December, as COVID-era travel restrictions began to lift, but the much-needed recovery hit a brick wall when the Omicron variant emerged and COVID cases in New York surged. Now hotels already fighting to stay afloat with crippled vacancy rates are contending with Big Apple property taxes that have soared 100% since 2008 and are double those of other major cities, one study found. “The industry was really hammered and it’s not going to be pleasant for the first quarter” because of increasing Omicron-fueled COVID cases, said Vijay Dandapani, the president of the Hotel Association of New York City, adding “at the same time we are being punitively taxed.”

Some 100 city hotels were forced to shut their doors due to the pandemic, and those that survived are now pushing to lower crushing property taxes, according to an industry group.

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January 7, 2022

The Real Deal: Shuttered Murray Hill hotel to become transitional housing January 6, 2022 3:45 PM Though New York City failed to deliver on some politicians’ and activists’ hopes to convert hotels to affordable housing, at least one shuttered hotel is set to serve as transitional housing for the homeless. The Hotel at New York City, a 117-room property in Murray Hill was sold last month by Apple Core Holdings to Prem Jyotish, Crain’s reported. The building at 161 Lexington Avenue is going to be converted into transitional housing for the homeless in partnership with the Bowery Residents’ Committee. The sale price of the hotel, which has been closed since the onset of the pandemic, is unclear. The deal comes after the city passed a severance law, requiring area hotels to either recall staff and reopen by Nov. 11 or pay 28 weeks of severance. The law provided an exception for hotel conversions. In early December, the New York Times reported that not a single hotel had been converted into permanent affordable housing since the start of the pandemic, despite the hotel industry’s struggles. Zoning and regulatory obstacles instead led some hotels to be converted into transient shelters. The Hotel Association of New York City reported almost 200 closures between May 2020 and June 2021, with nearly half still shut by mid-November. A 2020 estimate of the homeless population in New York City totaled 78,000 people, believed to be an undercount. In June, the state passed the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, allocating up to $100 million for hotels and commercial buildings to be converted into affordable housing. Additionally, new mayor Eric Adams in September proposed converting more than a thousand hotel rooms into supportive and affordable housing. In May, the state’s highest court threw out a lawsuit claiming the shuttered Park Savoy Hotel on Billionaires’ Row was unfit for housing, clearing the way for a men’s homeless shelter. The shuttered Excelsior Hotel, meanwhile, recently sold to Emmut Properties for $80 million. The hotel was once used to house the homeless, but its new owner reportedly has plans to convert the property into apartments.

Though New York City failed to deliver on some politicians’ and activists’ hopes to convert hotels to affordable housing, at least one shuttered hotel is set to serve as transitional housing for the homeless.

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January 7, 2022

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