As the Big Apple continues to grapple with the ongoing crisis, a chic hotel in the heart of Broadway has quietly operated as an immigrant shelter for more than a year, The Post has learned.
Room 141 Square Hotel 226 West 50th Street, between 8th Avenue and Broadway, is across the street from the Gershwin Theater, where the musical “Wicked” is being performed.
“Dear valued guests: It is with great regret that we inform you that Square Hotel will be closed until further notice. We thank you for your patronage and look forward to welcoming you back soon,” Square Hotel wrote on its Facebook page. It is stated in
The hotel’s website says, “Please forgive us as we blend in with the new!” We look forward to seeing you again in the future. ”
The hotel still has a Japanese restaurant and bar in the lobby, with “sleek furniture, plush beds with down duvets and premium linens, and flat-screen TVs with cable and CO Bigelow toiletries.” The hotel boasts Art Nouveau style hotel rooms.
But a recent visit to the Square Hotel presented a very different picture.
National Guard troops can be seen stationed at the entrance to the lobby.
On Sunday, a couple with carry-on luggage entered the hotel but were escorted out by the National Guard.
A sign posted last week at the entrance to the lobby warned that bikes chained to scaffolding or poles in front of the hotel would be severed and removed.
One critic says that even on the Great White Way, “lazy” hoteliers have come to the conclusion that they can make more money by filling rooms with immigrants in exchange for free money from the city than by booking tourists. Stated.
“These hotels may have a good tourism business now, but they are too lazy to ensure they get 100 percent occupancy in city revenue without providing traditional hotel services. , it’s too good to pass,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Other pro-business advocates said it’s sad that the city and hotel industry are trying to turn the Broadway District into an immigrant district.
“We believe the Broadway District is key to the city’s economy. There’s only one Broadway in the world!” said Gerald Cassar, chairman of the state Conservative Party.
Kasser said it was another blow to the Big Apple after the historic Roosevelt Hotel near Grand Central Terminal was converted into a large migrant shelter and reception center.
But migrants fleeing poverty and chaos in their homelands say the shelters are a lifeline to finding work and becoming self-sufficient.
“We all pay the price of one or two bad people. When one man goes to do bad things, it’s said that all Venezuelans are at fault,” said Jesús Delver, 27. told the Post.
“But not everyone is like that. I came to work. I couldn’t find a job for three months. But I didn’t give up. If you are willing to work hard, life will always be honest. It helps me find a job,” Delbert said.
Nina, a 64-year-old former executive director and theater lover from Brooklyn, was on her way to see a production of “Sign of the Times” at the nearby New World Stage when the asylum seekers “ I have to go somewhere.”
How New York City feels about the immigration crisis
64% disapprove of the Biden administration’s efforts to address the immigration crisis
29% think New Yorkers should welcome new immigrants and try to assimilate them into New York.
64% of New Yorkers believe that enough is already being done to accommodate new immigrants and that the city should now work to slow the flow of immigrants into New York. NY Post Complex
“I’m an empathetic person,” she said.
“But the mayor is not handling this issue well. The president is not handling this issue well.”
Judy Rudman, 57, a retiree who came to see Arthur Miller’s “Enemy of the People” with her husband and three children, said, “I thought more about immigrants than about theatergoers.” I’m worried,” he said. “If they have a place to stay, the city will be safer.”
A spokesperson for the mayor said the Square Hotel has been a shelter for migrants since last spring.
A nonprofit group working to improve Times Square said there had been no problems at the Square Hotel during that time.
“This hotel has operated as a shelter for over a year without any incidents or complaints. We are committed to ensuring that hotel management and New York City DHS continue to do so and work with the community when issues arise.” There’s every reason to believe,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance.
More than 100 city hotels have agreed to convert into emergency shelters for migrant families and individuals who have flooded into the city from the southern border.
This has been a godsend for many hotels suffering closures and business losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city also paid hotels to provide temporary lodging for recovering coronavirus patients, health care workers and the homeless.
The Post reported last September that the city had forked out a staggering $1.3 billion, nearly five times the original $275 million contract price, just to pay the rent on a vast network of hotels that had been converted into emergency shelters. It was reported that the contract with the hotel association was extended for three years for a sum of money. .
The president of the New York City Hotel Association said hotels are helping the city deal with the immigration crisis.
“Hotels will make their own decision whether to participate or not. During the coronavirus crisis, hotels did their best and returned to normal tourism operations once the crisis was over,” said the CEO of the Hotel Association. Vijay Dandapani said in a statement.
“We hope that once this crisis subsides, hotels will be able to recover with tax breaks and other support from the city and state.”
Nearly 200,000 immigrants have arrived in the Big Apple since spring 2022, overwhelming the city’s shelter population and forcing the Department of Homeless Services to close hotels and shelters at Floyd Bennett Field, Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital, the grounds of Kennedy Airport, and more. They are forced to rely on large-scale tent cities.
New York City spends an average of more than $387 a day to house an immigrant family in taxpayer-funded shelters, according to recent data from City Hall.
Mayor Eric Adams is moving to curb skyrocketing immigration costs by imposing 30-day and 60-day shelter stay limits for individuals and families, respectively.
A spokesperson for the mayor said the Square Hotel has been a shelter for migrants since last spring.
