Politico: New York Playbook Newsletter: Marijuana legalized — Cuomo

New York City’s battered hotel industry hopes more visitors will return starting April 1st, when domestic travelers no longer have to quarantine after entering New York from another state or territory.

Domestic travelers coming into New York are no longer required to quarantine and that has the city’s hotel industry feeling optimistic.

Yankee Stadium welcomed fans on Thursday, and some high-end hotels are opening their doors. But a widespread rebound from Covid-19 could take years.

By the end of March last year, New York City had been transformed from a teeming metropolis with a booming economy, to a city gripped by pandemic and in economic free fall.

In a breakthrough for closely watched 425 Park Ave., global private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman has signed a lease for two full floors — the first new office commitment there in more than two years.

A proposal to convert financially strapped hotels and other commercial properties into permanently affordable housing has been included in the State Senate’s one-house budget proposal and is garnering support from a broad group of interested parties while new federal stimulus money is being eyed to fund the proposal.

Industry leaders from the world’s of healthcare and hospitality have joined forces to help children and their families fight against pediatric cancer, as part of Ronald McDonald House New York’s (RMH-NY) healthcare and hospitality councils.