NEW YORK PUBLIC HOTEL
Aformer car park in New York’s Lower East Side, an area once notorious for its tenement slums, is not, perhaps, the first place you’d expect to find a luxury hotel. But here, just off one of the city’s most hectic intersections, is now one of the trendiest spots there is. I arrive on a warm June afternoon, the day before the property officially opens to the public, from which it gets its name. In the cavernous ground-floor space, taken up by a lifestyle boutique, a grocery-cum-coffee-shop-cum-bar, and the hotel’s restaurant, Public Kitchen, attractive young hipsters are caffeinating around laptops. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the 18-storey building is sleek and streamlined, all distressed-concrete pillars and bleached wood, offset by touches of disco, such as the set of dazzling copper, neon-lit escalators that lead to the sprawling lobby, and the jewel-toned bar, already buzzing with a stylish crowd of after-work drinkers.
This particular alchemy is down to hotelier Ian Schrager. The man who co-founded legendary nightclub Studio 54 is also credited with creating boutique hotel Morgans in the 1980s, followed by Sanderson and St Martins Lane hotels in London and Gramercy Park Hotel in New York. Public is intended to be more democratic than his previous projects, with its mantra of ‘luxury for all’ and a starting rate of $150 (£115) for rooms. Rates do rise however, up to $500 (£385); and at $18 (£14) for a glass of Prosecco, not every aspect feels entirely accessible.
But nowhere, bar the bedrooms, is off-limits to non-guests, who are encouraged to drink, eat, mingle and work in the many public spaces, which include a rooftop bar with 360° views, all complete with fast, free wi-fi. And extraneous elements of the traditional hotel experience have been eliminated.
There is no reception – guests check in on their phone instead, or on one of a bank of ipads on arrival. There’s also no room service or turndown service, and no bellboys, doormen or valets, but instead a team of young, friendly, multitasking ‘public advisers’ in T-shirts and trainers, wielding more ipads.
The bedrooms are similarly modern and slick. I open my door to darkness and press the first switch I can find, at which the ‘drapery’ (enormous blackout blinds) flies up to reveal floor-to-ceiling windows. Inspired by yacht cabins, the design is so efficient that I struggle for a moment to even find the bathroom, hidden behind a sliding wall of smoked glass.
Public has certainly succeeded in creating a sociable atmosphere, and over the course of my night bar-hopping around the building, I make several new friends, most notably the veteran British punk band Buzzcocks. Thanks to them, when I finally make it back to my room, it’s after 5am and the midsummer sun is almost up. As I collapse into my crisp, king-size bed, I’ve never been so grateful for hi-tech blackout blinds. JANE MULKERRINS
What it lacks in extras it makes up for in style.