HotelChatter

When the Surface Hotel was announced over two years ago, there was an excitement in the air. Unfortunately, literally years later, we are still waiting with bated breath for the magazine to come to life on the lower east side.  What happened?  What is going on?  This tale, like most, is convoluted and full of twists.

Luckily for the confused (that would be us), prolific blogger Lockhart Steele has done a great job of chronicling the vicissitudes of the Surface Hotel project. LS, who lives in the LES neighborhood where the hotel is being built, began covering the Surface Hotel developments in February 2003.  During his coverage, it is fun to track his mood, which might be used as a barometer of how the LES in general feels about this project.

LS was at first ecstatic and inquisitive, touring the structure, talking to the developers, and blogging any information he could find about the hotel.  As time went on, and hotel open dates came and went without an opening, LS began to cover the hotel with less joy and more sarcasm.  

However, even in an entry written late last year, LS wrote the following:

getting this place open by the end of 2004 is going to be a miracle of Biblical proportions  LS proclaims that If the place is run with this kind of skill, it's gonna be bigger than Jesus.

To add to the fray, other New Yorkers have been dishing about Surface for well over a year in the wirednewyork forums. Will Surface open in Septmeber?  We shall see.

Since this story appears to be a marathon and not a sprint, we'll pick it up from here and stay on top of it.