By: Hellen Zaboulani

The Roosevelt Hotel remains shuttered since December 2020, with its windows boarded up and homeless persons taking shelter beneath its awnings.  The iconic 1,013 key hotel on East 45th street has been the center of legal international disputes, with local officials trying to get the building landmark status to save it from undergoing any drastic changes.

Opened in 1924, the building is currently owned by Pakistan International Airlines.  As reported by Crain’s NY, city Councilman Keith Powers, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfriend have all gotten involved pushing the city to landmark the hotel to keep it from being significantly altered or torn down.  “As one of Manhattan’s only major hotels that has not yet even partially reopened since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are concerned that its future may be in jeopardy,” Powers wrote in a letter to Sarah Carroll, chairperson of the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Additionally, the hotel owners are involved in a dispute with the Hotel Trades Council for unpaid severance and liabilities in connection with the its union contracted employees.  The HTC alleges that the hotel owes some $7 million in severance fees as of Jan. 20, due to a new city law that requires hotels not opened back up as of Nov. 1 to pay workers $500 weekly in severance.  In response, the hotel owners are suing the city over the law, in a bid to avoid paying the fees.

The law, made to try to get hotels to open back up after the pandemic, contains an exception for hotels that are being converted to another use. The HTC wants to get the hotel landmarked, to keep the owners from converting to another use, so as to get former staffers their severance payments, it told Crain’s.  “The Roosevelt is an iconic hotel that should reopen and remain the fixture it has been for generations,” HTC President Richard Maroko said.

Local developers have had their eyes on purchasing the site, potentially for an oversized office project spanning the entire block.  Such a revamp could build a taller building than the current 16 stories. Last month, Manhattan Community Board 5 passed a resolution requesting that the hotel be evaluated for landmark status.

Pakistan International Airlines did not reply to Crain’s request for comment.