HABITAT Magazine
The Battle of Gramercy Park is finally over. The winner is the Gramercy Park Hotel while the loser is the co-op next door that sued, unsuccessfully, to retain access to the hotel’s rooftop.
While the rooftop war played out, the co-op at 50 Gramercy Park North succeeded in persuading a judge to stop construction work at the century-old hotel next door, which is under renovation and has been closed since 2020.
But that relief came to an end earlier this week when Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Anar Rathod Patel denied the co-op’s request for an injunction and overturned the stop-work order.
“To the extent that construction is being halted, there is no dispute that will cause delays or perhaps prevent the reopening of the hotel, which is a significant prejudice to the defendants,” Patel said from the bench after an hour-long hearing, Crain’s reports. “By contrast, there is not really any prejudice by the plaintiffs that has been established.”
This legal battle began when the 17-story, 21-unit co-op sued the hotel, claiming that the co-op’s “irrevocable and perpetual” right to the rooftop next door, atop the hotel, is being violated because an illegal members-only club is being built there “for guests of hotel operator’s choosing.” The court agreed to halt construction.
The hotel fired back by filing a counter-suit seeking $125 million in damages from the co-op. The hearing earlier this week allows halted construction to resume, signaling that the hotel has triumphed over the co-op.
In 2023 MCR Hotels bought the Gramercy Park Hotel’s ground lease and vowed to restore the splendor of the century-old hotel that closed in 2020. MCR secured a $150 million loan to renovate the building, and to sweeten relations with its new neighbors while work was underway, MCR offered to give 50 Gramercy Park North residents membership to the rooftop club, though they would have to pay for their own food and services.
A lawyer for the Gramercy Park Hotel, Vincent Pallaci, claimed that co-op residents have since been offered private space on the hotel’s third floor that is better than what they would have gotten on the rooftop. “The overall open space that they’re going to have access to is actually going to be nicer,” Pallaci said during the hearing.
The co-op’s residents can console themselves that sometimes you win even when you lose.