There is a lot going for the new Walker Hotel Tribeca on Broadway, and not just for out-of-towners. In fact, I would argue the best part about the place is what it brings to the local scene more than what it will do for the tourists.

Coming in off the street, the split level entrance takes you a few stairs up to a gorgeous common space (first thing I spotted was a David Weeks chandelier), all open to the public. On the weekday morning I was there, it was buzzing with activity, from the Blue Bottle coffee shop on the Broadway end to the hotel’s own coffee bar that converts to a bar bar at 4p on the Cortlandt Alley end. The kitchen is not yet finished but when it is, it will bring a restaurant on the Walker side of the building in January – yet to be named. (The building is 10 stories, built in 1899, and developed by Bridgeton, which also has the Walker Greenwich, Hero Beach and Marram in Montauk and Journey in East Hampton.)

A few steps down from the entrance in the basement is the official check-in desk along with a lounge, and soon, a meeting room that can be used for small dinners and a subterranean cocktail lounge. Also to come this spring, an expansive L-shaped roof deck that has views in three directions and that will have its own elevator from the street on Cortlandt Alley. The city views are some of the best in the neighborhood – just amazing cityscapes of the classic Broadway architecture surrounding the Walker itself (which in its former life was a button and ribbon factory).

There are lovely details throughout – the restored steel railing to the original stairs ascending from the lobby; pen-and-ink drawings of Tribeca landmarks that they should start selling (I want to make wallpaper from them); the steel shutters on the south façade windows.

Ok, so now to the rooms. They are tiny. The smallest hotel rooms I have seen. There’s no way around it. They are also luxurious and aesthetically smart, but the beds are built in on three sides and the toilet and stall shower are right-in-there. There are high-tech touches, white-washed brick, big windows with views, and I can imagine once you got in bed you might want to stay there. The phrase my hosts used was “concentrated luxury.” That works!

The starting rate is $199, depending on the day of the week, the room (there are 171) and the time of year. Beds range from full to king; none connect. (Tribecan Henley Vazquez who has the travel company Passported told me to check for this for the family angle. Alas.).

The Walker might just become the keystone in the development of East Tribeca, or the Tribeca Gallery District, or Cortlandt Alley, or whatever-we-are-to-call-it. (Do we need to crowd source this?) Definitely worth a visit even if you already have a room in Tribeca.

Walker Hotel Tribeca
77 Walker at Broadway
212-735-8000