Hotelier Ian Schrager is opening a new Public Hotel at the Dumbo Heights office conversion being developed by Kushner Cos., RFR and LIVWRK Holdings.
Schrager is still in the process of finalizing his plans to convert one of the Watchtower buildings, according to the New York Post. The new Public could include an extended-stay component.
The development team acquired the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower complex for $375 million in 2013. At the moment, the Jehovah’s Witness residential hotel includes 508 rooms with individual kitchens. It could become a 600-key hotel, the newspaper reported, with anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 square feet of dining services and meeting rooms.
Two Public hotels are already in the works at 215 Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side, and on the far West Side.
“We are formulating the ideas and intend for it to be the number one hotel in Brooklyn,” Schrager told the Post. “It’s so exciting and is also exciting to be part of what Michael and Jared are planning there.”
Schrager also told the newspaper that “this will be the next generation of hotels and something on the edge of what is out there already.” [NYP, 1st] — Claire Moses