Will suit-and-ties sip on Suit-and-Ties?
So much for boozy business lunches.
On Thursday night, Community Board 5 blocked the pending liquor license of the Park Hyatt Hotel, which is slated to open this summer at the base of Midtown luxury tower One57. Residents from four neighboring buildings passed the resolution after the hotel insisted on the use of a terrace attached to a "state of the art" executive boardroom, fearing that it would host loud parties.
In a committee meeting two weeks ago, hotel representatives tried to assuage worries by claiming that the unenclosed terrace, like the adjoining meeting space, would only accommodate 18 people at most.
Joel Maxman, a 30-year resident of 152 W. 58th St. just behind the hotel, doubts the head count. “They based it on the tables inside the boardroom,” he said. “It only had 18 seats.”
As it is, occupants of nearby buildings are already weary of other noises since construction started eight years ago. Mr. Maxman himself wakes up daily to the conversations of workers who pour in at 6 a.m. and sometimes leave as late as midnight. “The sound ricochets everywhere,” he said.
On its website, the hotel advertises both the terrace and the meeting room as one of several venues for “presentations, exhibitions, social events and cultural celebrations.”