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The New Yorker Hotel, a property once so glamorous that movie star Joan Crawford and then-Sen. John F. Kennedy stayed there, is trying to recapture some of its former stature. Its owners are sinking tens of millions into a major renovation that will double the number of rooms it operates, to 1,800 - and make it the third-largest hotel in the Big Apple.
But rather than courting celebrities and tourists - the hotel will target business travelers.
The megaproject will take five years to complete, but the first phase, a $30 million investment, has already begun, largely unseen by the public. The hotel is converting nearly a third of its space, much of it vacant or occupied by commercial office tenants, to new hotel rooms. By February, the New Yorker will unveil 114 new rooms and roll out another 174 rooms by June. It will continue to add rooms over the next five years, until it stands behind only the Hilton New York, at 1,981 rooms, and the Marriott Marquis Times Square, at 1,957 rooms.
"The idea is to make the rooms more efficient for the business traveler," said Ann Peterson, the general manager of the hotel, located on...