DOWNTOWN BROOKLYNA tiny half-block alley called Grove Place will play host to Brooklyn's newest night market tomorrow. Located off of Hanover Place between Fulton and Livingston Streets, Grove Place is a little-known slice of DoBro (it's not even pictured on Google Streetview). The free one-night event will bring vendors and food trucks to the area in an attempt to lure residents and business owners into seeing the block's potential and renting out the vacant spaces. [CurbedWire Inbox; official]
GREENWICH VILLAGEAfter introducing itself to the internet, newbie Greenwich Lane has introduced itself to the neighborhood with some branded construction signage. Evidently, this St. Vincent's condo conversion is exactly where you want to live. How much you will have to pay to live in one of the 200 units, however, has yet to be revealed. Photos of the new signs, after the jump. [CurbedWire Inbox; previously]
Welcome back to The Six Digit Club, in which we take a look at a newish-to-market listing priced under $1 million, because nice things sometimes come in small packages. Send nominations to the tipline.
Price: $975,000 Address: 372 12th Street #3 Size: 2BR/2BA, 1,045 sq. ft. CC/Taxes: $417
We were pretty shocked three weeks ago to discover a legitimate two-bedroom apartment in Park Slope for under $1 million, with only $500 in monthly maintenance costs. Now we're twice as shocked two discover yet another Park Slope apartment for $975,000, which not only has two bedrooms, but two bathrooms as well, and with lower monthly costs (at least until the tax abatement runs out). And, oh yeah, there are two private balconies and a large fenced in deck. A worthy entrant to the Six Digit Club indeed.
· 372 12th Street #3 [Corcoran]
· The Six Digit Club archives [Curbed]
Do check out the big Hotels Week stories over on Curbed National today: a full breakdown of one ambitious, Venus-inspired hotel suite, an interview with hospitality-design hotshot David Rockwell, a roundup of stunning design in Las Vegas, and the National Hotel Heatmap. [Curbed National]
No one who played this week's Pricespotter game really cared about the inclusion of roof rights with this two-bedroom co-op, but several people hated on the "rental quality" kitchen, noting that it probably needs to be completely renovated. Guesses were a little scattered, with the lowest coming in at $420,000 and the highest hitting $899,000. The actual asking price is $695,000, and this guy was the first to get it right. The unit is on the top floor of a five-story brownstone at 153 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene. Our favorite opinion of the place was expressed appropriately with an emoticon: "It makes me a little sad that in NYC, we call out 'both bedrooms have closets' as some type of benefit :-(".
Many of New York's trendiest hotels also happen to be some of the most beloved hotels, but just like snake print pants aren't for everyone, the city's most of-the-moment hotels can't win over every guest. One overseas visitor described Williamsburg's crown jewel as "suicidally pretentious," while a guest from Massachusetts thought a NoMad neighborhood gamechanger was little more than a "poorly thought-out shoebox." Culled from TripAdvisor, we bring you some terrible reviews of the city's most popular hotels.
The Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg: From London, stayed January 2013, the review is titled GHASTLY: "If suicidally pretentious is what you are looking for, then this is the hotel for you. [...] We had no problem that they dont do room service - strange but fair enough. But what is absolutely unaccepable is that they have no take out service from their restaurant - only coffee. On Morning 1, I begged them to put a bit of lemon bar in a box to take out, and they grudgingly did. But ask them if you can take to your room some oatmeal or - perish the thought - toast, and you get a look that tells you that you are just Trash. So if you want take out breakfast, you have to ask directions from Reception, who send you out in the January snow like Oliver Twist looking for his gruel."
"About 5 minutes after settling the Liberty Corner King room, I sat on the bed and noticed a bug crawling on the sheets in the corner of my eye. Curious if there were more, i lifted the mattress to inspect. Every crevice of the mattress had these small bugs that remind me very much of those bugs that bite you in your sleep crawling around. It reminded me of what happens when you kick over an ant pile and all the ants scurry to the surface. Shaking with disgust, I quickly put my bags outside the room so none of my personal items got infested. I then went back in the room for further investigation to find a significantly large quantity of dead bugs surrounding the edge of the mattress frame and in the corner of the room next to the bed." [TripAdvisor]
Among our favorite sites for the most awesomely bad New York City hotel reviews are TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and Yelp. Given the barely comprehensible grammar and syntax in some of the writeups, it's not surprising that the photography is, oftentimes, even worse than the semi-coherent descriptions. The delightful, oh-so-telling capture above comes to us from TripAdvisor's page on Inn New York City, which is actually the top-ranked "romantic hotel" in the city. Its official hotel-babble describes it as an Upper West Side "restored 19th century townhouse... the ultimate in romance and exclusivity. Behind an unassuming and discreet facade are four sumptuous suites, each a masterpiece of architectural artistry." We get that the fireplace by the hot tub/Jacuzzi-type thing is supposed to be atmospheric, but clueless poster, your picture is dark. Maybe that set the mood for you, but folks staring at it, all bewildered like, wondering if they should book that hotel for their next lustful getaway, are just gonna be, well, in the dark.
Times Square, as we all know, is the worst, not least because it is completely packed with tourists. But you know who doesn't know it's the worst? The tourists. They can't get enough of it, and, to be fair, Times Square does feature everything that people love about New York City—from the theatre, to huge billboards with Guy Fieri's face on them, to mentally ill people dressed as giant puppets. And, of course, lots of hotels. Sometimes, in the course of staying at one of those hotels, it dawns on a tourist just how terrible Times Square is.
Rodents maybe aren't as pervasive of a hotel fear as bedbugs, but they are not an uncommon find for NYC hotel guests. One Riverside Studios guest found a mouse under his bedand took a video of it. For those who prefer their rodent reports to be text-based, there's this missive from the ever-popular Hotel Pennsylvania: "Getting ready to go out, our friends had suddenly seen a rodent. They claimed it was a rat, but could have been a mouse. They did not hang around to find out .After convincing Reception that they needed a new room, a member of staff was sent up. Bizarrely, with a plunger. He did nothing to help and as our friends were being moved out of their room, another member of staff was showing a new couple of guests in to move into the room!" [Youtube; TripAdvisor]
In a city that has the best of the best hotels, New York also has its fair share of the "shockingly bad," "creepy basement," mold-filled hotels, too. You could say these fall under the "budget" category. But even if all you have to offer for a room is a pack of gum and a song, there are places that should be avoided. Here we bring you three of the worst reviewed NYC hotels on TripAdvisor.com. The reviews themselves are pretty starling, but what's even more surprising is the number of people who have experiences themone of these hotels has a whopping 209 terrible reviews.
Hotel:La Semana Hotel Location: 25 West 24th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue Cost: Reviewers note $119/night + taxes Number of terrible reviews:20 out of 27 Choice words: "Feels like you're in a creepy basement! [...] Overall this room is great if you're drunk or lost and u need a place to stay only for one late night." "There wastoilet paper hanging from the ceiling and bubblegum stuck over the peep hole on the door from the inside." "Murder witness?? [...] Then we heard the thuds. Loud, bone chilling crashes against a wall, floor, I dont know. But they were heavy and silent. We didnt dare look at each other or acknowledge them. Instead, we prayed for morning to come and keep us alive." Above photo of La Semana Hotel is courtesy of TripAdvisor
[Background photo by Darren J. Bradley/Shutterstock.]
Starting this very minute: Curbed's Bad Hotel Reviews Power Hour. For the next 59 minutes, our Hotels Week coverage will focus specifically on the worst reviews of New York City hotels left on TripAdvisor, Yelp, and elsewhere online, from the funniest lines to the most terrible photos to the grossest creatures found in hotel rooms. Spot a review you'd like us to mention? Send it our way within the next hour.
· Hotels Week 2013 [Curbed]
There are many reasons why the Plaza is one of the most luxurious and iconic New York City hotels, one of which is a little 4,490-square-foot something called the Royal Plaza Suite. Inspired by King of France Louis XV, the 3BR/3.5BA is more like a multi-million dollar Upper East Side home than a hotel room. Just look at that floorplan. There's, a library "stocked with titles hand-selected by Prosper Assouline, the founder of Assouline, a luxury book publisher," a living room with a baby grand piano, a dining room for 12 people, a home gym, a full kitchen with a pantry, and at least eight foyers, which the hotel-babble describes as "unique oval and round vestibules." There's a private elevator entrance, and the bathrooms, of course, have 24-karat gold plated fixtures. How much do these luxuries cost? About $30,000 per night.
Can a $2.9 million duplex Tribeca penthouse become a $5.295 million duplex Tribeca penthouse? That is the, well, $5.295 million question on the minds of the sellers and broker of the penthouse at 58 Walker Street, which popped up on the market a few days back for that higher price. When it was last on the market in 2011, the apartment's price dipped as low as $2.9 million (from a high of $3.7M). These days the listing is loftier and more staged, with more comprehensive brokerbabble:
In the living room you will find soaring 16 foot ceilings, a wood burning fireplace and original exposed brink that has been restored to its original beauty. The open chefs kitchen is outfitted with an externally-powered indoor grille, restaurant grade ventilation hood and GE Monogram appliances. 2 north facing bedrooms and 2 bathrooms complete this floor. The second floor is open and currently serves as the dining loggia, with a 100+ bottle custom wine bin, wine bar, wine refrigerator and half bathroom.