When hospitality developer GFI Development Company ("GFI") transformed the Breslin Hotel into Ace Hotel New York, the project was widely credited with turning NoMad into one of Manhattan's hottest neighborhoods. A joint venture between GFI and GB Lodging undoubtedly hoped to do the same by bringing an Ace Hotel outpost to 252 Schermerhorn Street (also known as 61 Bond Street), but a Downtown Brooklyn building boom took hold in the years of construction delays since permits were first filed. As the 13-story, 285-room luxury hotel nears completion, it will prove to be a natural addition to a beautiful and bustling Brooklyn neighborhood.
Co-developers GB Lodging and GFI Development Company turned to the best for Brooklyn's Ace Hotel when they enlisted the lodging experts at Stonehill & Taylor as the architects and the revered Roman & Williams as designers. An early rendering showed a robust mid-rise with lots of structural expression and multipane windows in between, and many of these are already installed.
A custom art installation will break up the building’s long expanse along Schermerhorn Street. The hotel will feature a signature restaurant, lobby bar, coffee shop, and winter garden. Suites will begin on the third floor, and floors 5-13 will have 29 rooms each. In addition to the hospitality space, the building will have ground-level retail, offices, and a fitness center.
The new hotel is rising on a particularly vibrant section of Downtown Brooklyn. Across the street from the site, condos at the Morris Adjmi-designed 211 Schermerhorn Street start at $1.2 million for two-bedrooms. Up the block, 33 Bond Street is home to Brooklyn's first Chelsea Piers outpost and luxury rentals starting at $2,437/month. And as popular as Ace Hotel is with hip young travelers, it is in for some competition - a few blocks away, new micro-hotel brand Motto by Hilton will rise at 88 Schermerhorn Street.