Novotel Times Square Hotel has permanently closed as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The hotel officially shut its doors just before Christmas, according to state records.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Details, updated on December 18, 2020 and made public on January 6, 2020, reads: “Due to the hotel owner’s decision to cancel the management contract, the business will no longer operate the hotel as of the close of business, [December 23, 2020]. This will impact a total of 225 employees. The hotel remains temporarily closed to the public. Of the 225 total impacted employees, 137 were previously furloughed on [March 15, 2020] and eight were permanently separated on [July 31, 2020].
According to Commercial Observer, Paris-based Accor built the 35-story, 480-room hotel at 226 West 52nd Street in 1984. Accor owned the property until 2012, when it was sold to Apollo Global Management and Chartres Lodging Group for about $94 million, as reported by The Real Deal. Accor stayed on as the manager as part of the deal, and the new owners launched a $118 million renovation of the property.
Earlier in the year, as reported by our sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor, The Times Square Edition closed around August 13, 2020, just a year after its much-anticipated opening. The Omni Berkshire Place, located near Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, also permanently close as a result of the pandemic, according to Luxury Travel Advisor.
The Commercial Observer report adds that other properties to close include, in September, the 44-story Hilton Times Square and, the next month, the landmarked Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown. As of September 2020 (the latest numbers available) 58 percent of Manhattan’s 129,000 hotel rooms were still closed with 2,700 expected never to reopen, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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