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An update on the luxury hotel coming to 456 Greenwich
I was invited to tour the construction site that is the Hotel Barriere Le Fouquet’s at 456 Greenwich and it seemed like a great opportunity to not only check out those North Tribeca views but see where the friction is between the hotel and the neighbors. Plus I’m a sucker for a hardhat tour and as it turns out, this was the most comfortable hardhat I’ve ever worn.
Developer Joshua Caspi leased the site in 2015 from the Ponte family, who owns a good chunk of North Tribeca, and for those first years, the project suffered through headaches, delays and a bankruptcy filing. But they picked up steam again with a new loan in 2019, and now the project is scheduled to be done in April 2022, ready for occupancy that following June. When I visited this spring, they had 100 workers on the site. (UPDATE: There are new numbers for the spaces, all updated below.)
The hotel takes up the full block from Greenwich to Washington along Desbrosses, and runs a couple hundred feet north from there. It’s more imposing than it is large; when you are inside none of the spaces seem all that big. For those that can wrap their minds around this sort of thing, it has a 12,000 foot print; 93,000 square feet total over eight floors. A third of the building is underground — the spa, with its signature pool, is deep below grade.
There will be three restaurants: the signature Le Fouquet’s on the corner of Washington with 130 seats 80 seats; a smaller casual restaurant in the back called Parici with 74 seats; and an 8th floor fine dining with a capacity for 115 setup for 40 on a roof deck with an awning. The lobby is five feet above the sidewalk with its main entrance on Greenwich.
It will take some imagination to understand the layout from these pictures, but the shot below shows how close the Greenwich Street neighbors are to the back restaurant. There’s no real back yard, so they will look right into the space. The 8th floor restaurant also had folks worried, but that is well above anyone’s windows, unless of course the sound drifts down. (The CB1 liquor license process is on hold while the developers hire new consultants and do more community outreach, Caspi said.)
The hotel will have 97 keys, and 30 of those will be suites. Caspi said it’s comparable to the Whitby or Crosby — boutique hotels in the Firmdale chain that is also developing the hotel on Warren and Greenwich. Basic room rates will be $1200, with suites going for up to $50k…a night. For fun Caspi is developing a wallpaper with F. Schumacher & Co. that will feature Tribeca icons like the Odeon, Tribeca Film Festival, Taxi Driver (for De Niro) and Hook & Ladder 8. The developers will also restore the cobblestones.
Fun fact: Caspi comes with a good origin story. When he was a kid (he’s in his early 40s) his father owned the Holiday Inn on West 57th and 10th (it’s now The Watson Hotel). Joshua worked there in the summers and had a skeleton key that he used to his advantage. Think Eloise, but with a suburban boy and set in the ’90s.
“I got into all sorts of trouble,” he said. “It was good fun for a kid who grew up in Westchester.”
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On which street are they going build their plywood dining shack?
Fun stories about Mr. Capsi’s juvenile delinquency aside, the DOB record of construction here is no laughing matter.
Listed below are just those DOB violations online issued at this project regarding adverse impact on neighboring structures through the risky excavation phase, with increasing severity over time. (This excludes the other construction site violations issued):
OATH/ECB #35313943K
Violation Date: 05/25/2018
Severity: Class-2
Hearing Status: Cured / In-Violation
MISCELLANEOUS VIOLATIONS – BC 3309.6 FAILURE TO MONITOR ADJOINING STRUCTURES FOR MOVEMENT IN ALL(DIRECTIONS) DURING EXCAVATION RELATED-ACTIVITY THAT (MAY) ADVERSELY AFFECT ADJOINING STRUCTURES.(MONITORING REPORTS) @TIME OF TIME OF MY IN […]
OATH/ECB # 35313944M
Violation Date: 05/25/2018
Severity: Class-2
Hearing Status: Cured / In-Violation
WORK DOES NOT CONFORM TO APPROVED CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS AND/OR APPROV ED AMENDMENTS – WORK CONTRARY TO APPROVED DOB PLANS @THE TIME OF MY INSP IT WAS OBSERVED AN ACTIVE CONST SITE W/EXCAVATION IN PROGRESS WHERE IT WAS NOTED THAT CONTRACTOR WAS INSTALLING (SELEANT) (sic) PILES ALONG (459) WASHINGTON ST […]
OATH/ECB # 35336208X
Violation Date: 07/10/2018
Severity: Class-1
Hearing Status: In Violation
FAILURE TO PROTECT ADJOINING STRUCTURES DURING EXCAVATION OPERATIONS-FAILURE TO PROTECT OR ADEQUATELY PROTECT ADJOINING STRUCTURES DURING EXCAVATIONS OPERATIONS. AT THE TIME OF MY INSPECTION IT WAS OBSERVEDTHAT (sic) ON AN ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION SITE WITH EXCAVTIONS (sic) IN PROGRESS ADJOIN […]
OATH/ECB # 35343577R
Violation Date: 07/31/2018
Severity: Class-1
Hearing Status: Admit / In-Violation
FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD ALL PERSONS AND PROPERTY AFFECTED BY CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS – FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD ALL PERSONS AND PROPERTY AFFECTED BY CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS. AT HTE (sic) TIME OF INSPECTION IT WAS OBSERVED THAT THE ABOVE PROPERTY CAUSED DAMAGES TO THE FACAE (sic) AND ROOF OF THE ADJACENT PROPERTY […]
OATH/ECB # 35403710Z
Violation Date: 03/18/2019
Severity: Class-1
Hearing Status: Admit / In-Violation
MISCELLANEOUS VIOLATIONS -NO UPDATED MONITORING REPORTS PROVIDED. AS PER ADJACENT PROPERTY NO REPORTS PROVIDED AFTER JANAURY (sic) 27, ONGOING WORK UP TILL FEBRUARY 19 AS PER CONCRETE SUBCONTRACTOR COMPETENT ONSITE AT TIME OF INSPECTION NO RE […]
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ECBQueryByLocationServlet?requestid=7&allbin=1002927
How long will the swimming pool be? I am a lap swimmer, and I look for a hotel with a full length lap pool.
Thank you!
Although not mentioned in the article, they went through this judge for their bankruptcy:
https://therealdeal.com/2022/04/27/how-a-white-plains-judge-became-a-favorite-refuge-for-nyc-developers/