HotelChatter

Morris Moinian is, to say the least, prolific. He has owned a women's fashion line, founded a successful national real estate company, and opened a thriving (if not oddly-furnished) hotel in Chelsea. Now that he's setting his sights on the downtown hotel scene, we thought we'd find out exactly what he has in mind.

Unlike other developers who took absolutely no interest in the Chelsea area, Moinian saw potential back in the early 2000s when he bought the land for Indigo Chelsea. Now, the same neighborhood has gone from a "truck loading stop" to a certified midtown hotel hub, and Moinian predicts that rooms there will double within the next two to four years.

As for the 2013 opening of the as-yet-unnamed Greenwich Street property, Moinian is counting on the hotel's prime location to qualify it as one of the "better-performing hotels in New York City."

But when it comes to improving on the success of Indigo Chelsea—which, Moinian admits, will be comparatively lower-priced—details are a little foggy ("more efficiency...higher standards of service..."). What we do know for sure is that the project's investment capital will be much, much greater.

Here's one question we were particularly curious to ask Moinian, whose flair for party-throwing is well-documented: what kind of experience can guests expect from this new hotel?

"What's important here is the area's demand for restaurants—and it is likely that our restaurant will be filled with someone world-famous that will create much buzz and excitement for both the hotel and the whole neighborhood.

We want to do something more flavorful, more magical, more remarkable, more innovative. When you walk into a hotel, you have to feel that electric moment, you have to be able to say to yourself, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to have a great time here.'"

[Photo: Steven Sunshine / NY Daily News]