Work Begins On Lower Manhattan Hotel Complex

Raising the competitive ante for business redevelopment in lower Manhattan, Embassy Suites and United Artists are breaking ground this month on a 425-room hotel and entertainment complex in Battery Park City, near New York's financial district.

The hotel's design plans call for a 15-story, glass-walled atrium, courtyard, ballrooms, meeting and conference rooms, a health club and restaurants. In addition, most of the guest rooms will afford an unobstructed view of New York Harbor, according to Steve Julias, president of Proteus, the Stamford, Conn.-based real estate development firm selected by the Battery Park City Authority to build the hotel.

Surprisingly, the Battery Park City Authority rejected a bid by Marriott Hotel Corp., which already has two hotels in the area, to build the property.

"It will be a classic Embassy Suites property, with an emphasis on service for the corporate market during the week, especially for small corporate meetings," Julias said. The hotel will include small ballrooms and meeting rooms, and teleconferencing for up to 850 people.

Because it's an all-suite property, "business travelers now realize they can get a suite at Embassy, not simply a room, an arrangement that usually works better for them," Julias said.

Room rates of about $200 per night are being projected, a figure that will be competitive with existing business hotels in the area, he said.

The entertainment complex adjacent to the hotel will house a 10-screen multiplex theater and a 50,000-square-foot Star Port Virtual Reality entertainment complex to be operated by UA.

The hotel project will be constructed next to the Hudson River, adjacent to the Merrill Lynch and American Express towers.

The 100,000-square-foot UA entertainment complex, which will be on the building's first level, will double as a full-scale videoconferencing area for meetings, with space ranging from 250 to 850 seats.

"This project represents an enrichment of Battery Park City through new and expanded use, and round-the-clock use," said a spokesman for the Authority.

The work is part of a comprehensive redevelopment of Battery Park City's northern section, including the 25-acre Wagner Park, which opened this summer and features a 1.5-mile esplanade along the Hudson, gardens and a cafe; the Museum of Jewish History, being built by the New York Holocaust Memorial Commission and opening in 1997; a new commodities exchange; and residential development.

Battery Park City offers restaurants and shopping, and is regarded as one of New York's safest neighborhoods, Julias noted. "With the property in the heart of New York's Wall Street financial district, we expect businesspeople at all levels to stay in the hotel," he said.