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The New Yorker Hotel is in a dilemma.
The 1,014-room property has drawn up plans to pour millions of dollars into renovating itself into a four-star hotel if the nearby Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is expanded. If not, the hotel will stick to a modest, less costly plan of improvement.
"We don't know what level to bring the hotel to yet," says Kevin Smith, executive vice president and general manager of the 74-year-old property at 481 Eighth Ave. "We really need to see what the city will do on a definitive basis."
The New Yorker is not the only hotel in limbo. Industry sources say that New York's Hotel Pennsylvania, a 1,700room property located just a couple of blocks away, is also weighing hefty renovation plans that depend on the convention center. In addition, both Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott have expressed interest in bidding on constructing a hotel on the corner of West 42nd Street and 11th Avenue, a site that is part of the Javits expansion master plan.
"The moment we get the goahead, you are going to see renovations and building plans (crop up)," says Cristyne...