FOUND: suite digs

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, W Union Square, $2 million 2BRs, Point Seven, Nama at Aman, MORE

Oct 20, 2023

∙ Paid

GETAWAYS • NYC Hotels

Fall staycation upgrades

Let’s begin with the word on a major new Manhattan hotel opening this week, and further downtown, an ongoing refresh:

The Fifth Avenue Hotel (Nomad, above): A short block away from the Ritz-Carlton Nomad, The Fifth Avenue Hotel opened its doors Monday in a restored McKim, Mead & White mansion from 1907 — and an adjoining new 24-story tower. When FOUND dropped by to scope it out, we found an opulent lobby, bedecked in a dizzying array of bold colors (very 2023). Also spotted: construction work in the hallway off the lobby. “Soft opening,” a staff member told us. For a mid-November night, a standard king runs $1,295/night.
- The Ticket: The house restaurant, Café Carmellini, handsomely fronts Fifth Ave. Previously scheduled to open this month, FOUND hears they’re now targeting November. “I’m going to make this my culinary home,” chef Andrew Carmellini (Locanda Verde, The Dutch) told the NYT, inspiring hope.

W Hotel Union Square: It’s hard to remember, but in the late 1990s, W Hotels were the epitome of cool, none more so than the Union Square location with its bustling Todd English restaurant. Flash forward, and things needed more than a little spiffing up. Enter the Rockwell Group, which redesigned the rooms, lobby, and restaurant spaces; five floors of new rooms are now open to guests, with the public spaces expected to be finished by the end of the year. A corner king for a mid-November Saturday quotes at $521/night.
- The Ticket: Restaurateur John McDonald (Lure, Bowery Meat Company) will run the W’s new French-influenced seafood spot, Seahorse, on the ground floor. Expect teak paneling and a semi-circlular raw bar. A rooftop bar with retractable roof will debut in the spring.

Looking forward, two other major new NYC hotels that hoped to debut this fall have pushed openings to 2024: Faena, at One High Line in Chelsea, and The Surrey (from the Corinthia Hotel Group, with food by Casa Tua) on the Upper East Side.

GETAWAYS • Staycation

Manhattan hotels, the new guard

Nine Orchard (Lower East Side, above), the new downtown standard, $825
The Wall Street Hotel (Wall Street), a new contender to the throne, $585
Hotel Barriere Fouquet’s (Tribeca), Paris classic lands in NYC, $1300
Fifth Avenue Hotel (Nomad), give it a month to iron out kinks, $1295
Ritz-Carlton Nomad (Nomad), club level for best views, $1255
The Ned Nomad (Nomad), members club w/public bookings, $830
Aman NYC (Midtown East), first U.S. ultraluxe outpost w/3-floor spa, $4000
Pendry Manhattan West (Hudson Square), West Coast vibes, $849
Hotel Chelsea (Chelsea), Cafe Chelsea takes revamp over the top, $830

All rooms king, December weekend night. Hit reply or email found@foundny.com with additions and subtractions.

GETAWAYS LINKS: Inside the (very plaid!) new most expensive listing in Hudson Valley • Delta tweaks loyalty program overhaul • United won’t follow Delta lead on loyalty • What’s next for AmEx’s Centurion Lounge network? • Hotel prices in Paris up 300% in advance of 2024 Olympics • The 40 coolest neighborhoods in the world.

REAL ESTATE • On the Market

Two bedrooms, $2 million

In the bubble of Manhattan real estate, the de facto luxury market — which Elliman defines as the top 10% of sales — now starts at $4 million. That’s up 4.7% year-over-year, and with inventory down 9.2% over the period, there hasn’t been much pressure to price down.

But, wow, those interest rates. This week, the average 30-year-fixed topped 8% for the first time this century. It’s a number that may cause even the most price-insensitive non-cash buyer to blink at the monthlies on $4 million. (Even cash buyers like to carry a little debt on the balance sheet.) So maybe today is a good time to remember that Manhattan is also a place where lovely two-bedrooms trade in the $2-million range. Here, three downtown to get started:

→ 250 Mercer St. C212 (Greenwich Village, above) • 2BR/2BA, 1202 SF co-op • Ask: $2.0M • Days on market: 22 • Common charges: $3250 • Broker: Joshua Lieberman, Elliman.

→ 133 Mulberry St. 5C (Little Italy) • 2BR/2BA, 1384 SF condo • Ask: $2.295M • Days on market: 18 • Common charges: $1177, monthly taxes: $1875 • Broker: Matthew Melinger, Brown Harris.

→ 242 East 7th St. PH (East Village) • 2BR/1.5BA, 1600 SF co-op • Ask: $2.4M • Days on market: 24 • Common charges: $1872 • Broker: Jason Lanyard, Elliman.

NYC REAL ESTATE LINKS: Real Estate Board of NY changing policy on commissions to buyer’s brokers • Co-op luster fading: Annie Leibovitz lists for $3m below $11m price she paid in 2015… but it’s a sweet looking pad • Brooklyn luxury real estate market inches upwards • There’s a West Village Frankenmansion on the market • How 100,000 apartments in NYC disappeared.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine

Open restaurant, recharge, repeat

FRANKLIN BECKER, chef/partner, Point Seven, Press Club Grill, Oliva, Manhattanville Market
Above, with friend Daniel Boulud in fresh merch

It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Friday nights tend to be the night we unwind by grabbing a bite at one of our restaurants, and then head out to sing some karaoke.

Since our job is never done — we’ve just opened our new restaurant Point Seven in Midtown’s MetLife Building with my business partner Stephen Loffredo — and we work seven days a week either from home or at the restaurants, we like to use Saturdays as a way to reconnect. Although my wife and I work together, we’re consumed by the restaurants. So we typically plan on sleeping in on Saturday mornings (8am) and then I go and get a beard trim/haircut, and then we meet up for a manicure and pedicure followed by a massage. We then head back home, grab our dog, and take him for a walk to the doggie park.

After work, we typically go out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: Portale by Alfred Portale, Le Pavillion by Daniel Boulud, Koloman by Markus Glocker, or Lure Fishbar by Preston Clark.

How about a little leisure or culture?
On Sundays, we like to go out for brunch, take long walks with the dog to Soho and then sit by the water down at the Seaport, and grab a bite at The Fulton or the Tin Building by Jean Georges. We love the views down there and enjoy just being with one another. At night, we watch football and order takeout.

Any weekend getaways?
We plan to get out of Dodge and hit the spa at the Mayflower Inn up in Litchfield County real soon, for a little R&R. Massages are something we try to do every week. We’re also planning a trip to the Bahamas. We got married during the pandemic and went to Rosewood at Baha Mar, so we want to revisit it — it was an amazing place to vacation.

What was your last great vacation?
The last vacation was a puddle jumper to London, to join the celebration of Stephen and Amanda’s engagement. We had a great meal at Bob Bob Ricard, and stayed at Ham Yard in Soho, from the same hotel group that runs the Crosby Street Hotel here in NYC. London during Christmas time is a magical place to be.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Nostalgia Tour

Billy Joel, Madison Square Garden (Midtown South), Fri @ 8p, section 118, $725 per
The Bacon Brothers, City Winery (Hudson River), Sun @ 8:30p stage premier, $89 per
Depeche Mode Memento Mori Tour, Barclays Center (Prospect Heights), Sat @ 730p, section 9, $224 per

CULTURE LINKS: New York authorities return $19m of looted antiquities to Italy • ‘Suffs’ heads to Broadway with Hillary Clinton as a producer • Blum and Poe rebrands as BLUM with new Tribeca gallery • New provisions from Frenchette Bakery coming to the Whitney • Who goes to see Van Gogh’s Starry Night at the MoMA?

RESTAURANTS • Kodawari

Nama, stay

Welcome to a recurring FOUND feature in which we profile sushi counters practicing kodawari — the uncompromising, relentless pursuit of perfection.