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Lipton's Tea Posts

New York City is Back Baby! Not Quite but the Hotel Chelsea Is

Published on July 19, 2022

Longing for the days of celebrity sightings, illicit drugs and carnal pleasure in the heart of New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood? Turns out the historic Hotel Chelsea—a previous magnet for painters, actors, dancers, novelists, playwrights and musicians and a whole lot of debauchery—is opening its doors again after a rough decade of contentious renovation, developer turnover, countless lawsuits, a stop-work order and a pandemic. Current ownership took a “gentle and…respectable” approach to the restoration filling the lobby with the artwork of current and former tenants. There will be a new lounge with a brass-railed bar, a grand piano, as well as an updated version of the Spanish-themed restaurant El-Quijote that’s been “tuned up” a bit.

The hotel will be a blend of 155 rentable rooms and more than 40 permanent residents, who have been “allowed” to remain because ownership likes “the mix” of guests and full-time residents (i.e., owners could not get around NYC’s rent stabilization rules). Described by one famous resident as a place “haunted by dark creative forces” but also a place with “romanticism,” we look forward to what the next century has in store for the Chelsea. Don’t let us down.

Cheshes, Jay. “How the Historic Hotel Chelsea Has Kept Its New York Cool.” The Wall Street Journal, 26 Apr. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/hotel-chelsea-new-york-11650976217?mod=hp_listc_pos1.
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What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Need to Stay in Vegas.

Published on July 19, 2022
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What is a city to do when its hotels and offices are half empty, its bars filled with nothing but lonely alcoholics, and few tourists care to make the journey to enjoy its cultural offerings? For New York City, the answer is to pull a play out of the Las Vegas handbook—a destiny equipped with manufacturing fun and entertainment. In Times Square, more than 20% of its businesses remain closed along with six hotels and a newly opened restaurant endured three robberies before shutting down.

Before the pandemic, this district employed 66,000 people and represented roughly 15% of New York’s total economy. Gotham is resilient and Times Square has already started reinventing itself. Since 2021, a new hotel has been opening in stages with an outdoor pool overlooking the theater district and another opening in 2023 includes a concert stage.

Swimming pools and concerts are nice, but the real money is in the casinos, and world-class REIT, SL Green, has a plan that should excite hotel unions and casino operators. CEO Marc Holiday is proposing a casino project and suggests Times Square is the “absolute best, most obvious, least impactful and most globally accepted area” for it. Hard to argue as the neighborhood is already home to comedy clubs, hotels, Disney characters, women wearing nothing but painted-on bikinis, and, of course, the Naked Cowboy.

No doubt there will be opponents to turning Times Square into a hybrid mecca of debauchery and family fun but Vegas dances well, so can we.

Konrad Putzier & Peter Grand. “Times Square Plots Its Comeback, and It Looks like Las Vegas.” The Wall Street Journal, 26 Apr. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/times-square-plots-its-comeback-and-it-looks-like-las-vegas-11650965581?mod=hp_lista_pos4.
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If you are getting divorced, best it be from a real estate tycoon with $922 million in art works

Published on July 19, 2022

Take out your pom poms and give a shout-out to real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda, who is said to have an “incomparable eye” for trophy-name modern and contemporary works of art. This week they finalized the second cache of the private Macklowe Collection grossing a total of $922 million eclipsing the previous record of $835 million held by the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection. 

Why did the Macklowes sell after more than 60 years of collecting? Turns out these two previous lovebirds couldn’t come to terms on how to divide their wealth so Judge Laura Drager decided for them, mandating the sale of their collection via public auction. And what a sale it was…for art aficionados (and even you dilettantes), the sale included works by Mark Rothko, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Warhol and de Kooning. Despite a market shift placing a premium on female artists and ones of color, this collection comprised works solely of canonical white male artists (looks like Harry and Linda aren’t PC-motivated when buying their masterpieces).

In the art market like “the spare parts market—works are hard to find and very expensive.” Upset by the sale of his prized works, not Harry, who said he was “thrilled by it…everybody endorsing the choices…made over the last 65 years.” What a good sport, we love you Harry.

Reyburn, Scott, and Robin Pogrebin. “The Macklowe Collection Tops $922 Million at Auction.” The New York Times, 17 May 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/arts/design/macklowe-collectors-sothebys-art-warhol-richter.html.
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