By: Ilana Siyance
Once famed as the Royal Park Hotel, the tourist destination in the Upper West Side, will be converted into low cost housing, mainly for the formerly incarcerated.
As reported by the NY Times, the seven-story building at 258 West 97th Street, has been shuttered since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, crippling the city’s tourism. Situated just half a block from Central Park, the building was built in 1925, and converted to a co-op in 1985. In late years, city officials had targeted the building saying it was running as an ‘illegal hotel’, meant to serve as permanent housing.
Earlier this year, a nonprofit named the Fortune Society, purchased the building for $11 million. “It was an opportunity to purchase a property that we would never be able to afford,” said JoAnne Page, the president and chief executive of the Fortune Society. The organization is interested in adding low-income housing to alleviate the city’s housing shortage. In particular, the nonprofit intends to fill the building with tenants who were previously incarcerated. The conversion will not be too lengthy, as the building was already designated for permanent housing.
When the pandemic hit, shuttering the Big Apple’s tourism, many hotels could not stay afloat. Many saw this as an opportunity to convert these buildings into much needed housing. Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed easing some zoning regulations, and Mayor Eric Adams has also called for revamping city building codes to allow speedy conversion projects which he said could add tens of thousands of housing units. The question remains, where will tourists go once the hospitality industry gets back on its feet.
As per the NY Times, once reopened next year, the building will have 82 units–58 of which will be set aside for people living in homeless shelters including ex-cons, and another nine apartments will be filled through the city’s affordable housing lottery. The remaining units will be earmarked for some tenants who had already been living in the building for many years. The building will offer on-site support services, like case managers to assist with employment, nutrition and substance abuse. The revamp is slated to cost roughly $31 million, which Ms. Page said the nonprofit was trying to raise and a portion of which the city is expected to help fund.
The previous owner and hotelier, Hank Freid, had purchased the building in 2004, marketing it as a cheap hotel, and garnering criticism as well as a lawsuit alleging that the site was meant for permanent housing. He did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.
