ASHLEY FURNITURE IN DALLAS

New York's Hotel Pennsylvania
401 Seventh Avenue (at 33rd St.)
New York, N.Y. 10001

Vornado Realty Trust owns the hotel, not Heineken. You wonder how much the hotel's RevPAR is up with the double Heineken signage.
----------------------------
According to Wikipedia the Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and leased and operated by Ellsworth Statler and his Hotel Statler Company, Inc. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. McKim, Mead & White are known for its Beaux-Arts style - heavily used in the U..S during the period from 1880 to 1920. The architects also designed the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, Manhattan (razed in 1964), the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Cuba built in 1930 and the columned Pennsylvania Station across the street (razed in 1963). The architects felt the Hotel Pennsylvania was appropriate to confront travelers exiting from its great Pennsylvania Station.

Ellsworth Statler's biography notes he introduced the Servidor at the Hotel Pennsylvania, a bulging panel in the guest-room door where the guest hung clothes needing cleaning or pressing. The valet could pick up the clothes and return them without ever entering the room.

The Statler Hotel Company bought it in 1949 and renamed it The Hotel Statler. Five years later, Conrad Hilton bought all 17 Statler hotels for $111,000,000, and renamed it The Statler Hilton.

The Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge ballroom was a popular venue during the Big Band era of the 1930s and '40s. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, the Dorsey brothers and Glenn Miller were regular performers. Glenn Miller's 1940 hit "Pennsylvania 6-5000" immortalized the hotel's phone number. It is still the phone number for the Hotel Pennsylvania, but it has been reduced to an all-numeric number 212-736-5000

In 1984 the hotel was purchased by Penta Hotels and became part of 16-unit chain operated out of West Germany as a joint venture by Lufthansa, Swissair and British Airways. At that time The Pennsylvania had 1,705 rooms, making it the third largest in the city after the New York Hilton (2,041 rooms) and the Sheraton New York (1,746 rooms).

Ascot Associates, headed by Abraham Hirschfeld, acquired Penta's interest in 1991 when the hotel was operating at a loss and returned it to its original name, Hotel Pennsylvania. (In 1998, it was Abraham Hirschfeld who offered $1,000,000 to Paula Jones to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit against former US President Bill Clinton.)

In a New York Times article from 1995 Mary Diem, the hotel's general manager, stated an average of 500 rooms a night are leased to airline crews and 400 to travel groups. The rest of the rooms are leased at rack rates averaging from $109 for a single and $129 for a double. During that time The Palace Hotel was renovated and it sold 800 rooms of furnishings to the Pennsylvania Hotel. The furniture was used in 1,000 rooms at the Pennsylvania, where most rooms 14 by 16 feet or 12 by 20 feet.

In 1997 Vornado Realty Trust based in Paramus, N.J., acquired the hotel from Hirschfeld Properties. Vornado described the building in 2005 as "a placeholder, sort of like a parking lot."

In 2007 Vornado Realty Trust made public its intent to demolish the hotel (which is not a city landmark) and build a Pelli Clarke Pelli designed 2.5-million-square-foot office tower.

Due to the controversy of the 1963 destruction of McKim, Mead and White designed Penn Station and the relation the hotel has with the station, some feel that the demolition of the hotel will be as if New York were demolishing Penn Station all over again.

According to the 2010 Vornado Realty Trust Year-End Report the Hotel Pennsylvania's latest operating statistics are:

2010 Occupancy 83.2%
2010 ADR $143.28
2010 RevPAR $119.23
2010 EBITDA $23,760,000

2009 Occupancy 71.5%
2009 ADR $133.20
2009 RevPAR $95.18
2009 EBITDA $15,108,000

2008 Occupancy 84.1%
2008 ADR $171.32
2008 RevPAR $144.01
2008 EBITDA $42,269,000

With business booming the hotel in 2002 officially trademarked the phrase "World's Most Popular Hotel."

Recent attempts by preservationists to have the hotel designated an official city landmark have failed.

New York's Hotel Pennsylvania
401 Seventh Avenue (at 33rd St.)
New York, N.Y. 10001

A scheme of four wings with courts open to the south was adopted for the 32nd Street side.
---------------------
According to Wikipedia the Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and leased and operated by Ellsworth Statler and his Hotel Statler Company, Inc. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. McKim, Mead & White are known for its Beaux-Arts style - heavily used in the U..S during the period from 1880 to 1920. The architects also designed the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, Manhattan (razed in 1964), the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Cuba built in 1930 and the columned Pennsylvania Station across the street (razed in 1963). The architects felt the Hotel Pennsylvania was appropriate to confront travelers exiting from its great Pennsylvania Station.

Ellsworth Statler's biography notes he introduced the Servidor at the Hotel Pennsylvania, a bulging panel in the guest-room door where the guest hung clothes needing cleaning or pressing. The valet could pick up the clothes and return them without ever entering the room.

The Statler Hotel Company bought it in 1949 and renamed it The Hotel Statler. Five years later, Conrad Hilton bought all 17 Statler hotels for $111,000,000, and renamed it The Statler Hilton.

The Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge ballroom was a popular venue during the Big Band era of the 1930s and '40s. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, the Dorsey brothers and Glenn Miller were regular performers. Glenn Miller's 1940 hit "Pennsylvania 6-5000" immortalized the hotel's phone number. It is still the phone number for the Hotel Pennsylvania, but it has been reduced to an all-numeric number 212-736-5000

In 1984 the hotel was purchased by Penta Hotels and became part of 16-unit chain operated out of West Germany as a joint venture by Lufthansa, Swissair and British Airways. At that time The Pennsylvania had 1,705 rooms, making it the third largest in the city after the New York Hilton (2,041 rooms) and the Sheraton New York (1,746 rooms).

Ascot Associates, headed by Abraham Hirschfeld, acquired Penta's interest in 1991 when the hotel was operating at a loss and returned it to its original name, Hotel Pennsylvania. (In 1998, it was Abraham Hirschfeld who offered $1,000,000 to Paula Jones to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit against former US President Bill Clinton.)

In a New York Times article from 1995 Mary Diem, the hotel's general manager, stated an average of 500 rooms a night are leased to airline crews and 400 to travel groups. The rest of the rooms are leased at rack rates averaging from $109 for a single and $129 for a double. During that time The Palace Hotel was renovated and it sold 800 rooms of furnishings to the Pennsylvania Hotel. The furniture was used in 1,000 rooms at the Pennsylvania, where most rooms 14 by 16 feet or 12 by 20 feet.

In 1997 Vornado Realty Trust based in Paramus, N.J., acquired the hotel from Hirschfeld Properties. Vornado described the building in 2005 as “a placeholder, sort of like a parking lot.”

In 2007 Vornado Realty Trust made public its intent to demolish the hotel (which is not a city landmark) and build a Pelli Clarke Pelli designed 2.5-million-square-foot office tower.

Due to the controversy of the 1963 destruction of McKim, Mead and White designed Penn Station and the relation the hotel has with the station, some feel that the demolition of the hotel will be as if New York were demolishing Penn Station all over again.

According to the 2010 Vornado Realty Trust Year-End Report the Hotel Pennsylvania's latest operating statistics are:

2010 Occupany 83.2%
2010 ADR $143.28
2010 RevPAR $119.23
2010 EBITDA $23,760,000

2009 Occupancy 71.5%
2009 ADR $133.20
2009 RevPAR $95.18
2009 EBITDA $15,108,000

2008 Occupany 84.1%
2008 ADR $171.32
2008 RevPAR $144.01
2008 EBITDA $42,269,000

With business booming the hotel in 2002 officially trademarked the phrase “World’s Most Popular Hotel.”

Recent attempts by preservationists to have the hotel designated an official city landmark have failed.

<< Arhiva >>