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By: Ilana Siyance
In the latest sign of the looming migrant crisis, another posh hotel in the center of Broadway is reportedly being utilized as a shelter.
As reported by the New York Post, The Square Hotel, located at 226 West 50th Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, across the street from Gershwin Theatre, has been converted into a shelter. The Square Hotel posted a message on its Facebook page saying: “To our valued guests: it is with great sadness that we announce the Square Hotel will be closed for the foreseeable future. We appreciate your patronage and hope to welcome you back someday soon.” The hotel’s website has a similarly cryptic post, making no reference to its use as a shelter, saying: “Please pardon our appearance as we slip into something new! We look forward to welcoming you in the future.”
The 141-room boutique hotel, centrally located in the theatre district and less than 10 minutes’ walk to Rockefeller Center, was built in 1904 and last renovated in 2017. The 7-story hotel boasts “Art Nouveau styled hotel rooms” with “sophisticated furniture, plush beds with down comforters and deluxe linens, flat-screen televisions with cable”, and a rooftop terrace. It still features a Japanese restaurant and bar in its lobby. According to the information in the Post report however, the scene inside the hotel has completely changed. There is now a National Guard soldier stationed at the entrance of the lobby. A couple signing in with luggage was escorted by National Guard troops.
Critics were disappointed that the hotel would convert into a shelter. “These hotels could be doing a fine tourist business right now, but they are being lazy, and a sure-thing 100-percent occupancy on the city dime, and without having to provide traditional hotel services, is just too good a deal to pass up,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in a highly astute comment.
Other pro-business advocates said it’s sad that the city and the hotel industry are turning the iconic Broadway District into a hub for illegal migrants. “We consider the Broadway District a key to the city’s economy. There is only one Broadway —in the entire world!” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar, who seeks to preserve the legacy of the “Great White Way” and what it means for New York City.
The head of the Hotel Association of New York City said hotels are helping the city deal with the migrant crisis. “The hotels make their own choices as to whether or not to participate. During the Covid crisis, hotels stepped up to the plate, and when it ended they went back to their normal course of tourism business,” Hotel Association CEO Vijay Dandapani said, in a statement, according to the Post report.
For their part, the migrants say the shelters are their only hope as they flee their homelands, which are in upheaval and where poverty is the only option. They say the shelters act as a lifeline while they adjust and find work to become self-sufficient. “We all pay the price for one or two bad guys. One guy goes to do something bad and then they say all Venezuelans are bad,” Jesus Delber, 27, told The Post. “But not everyone is like that. I came to work. I didn’t find work for three months. But I didn’t give up,” added Delbert.
