Uh oh. We scored some shots (via a friend of a friend) from the Standard NYC's construction sight. This was snapped a little over a week after we stomped around there for a party, and we'll be the first ones to say that the view from what we presume to be the 18th floor restaurant space is just as beautiful in the daylight.
We'll also be the first ones to note that the amount of progress made here -- or rather, not made here -- has been shocking. Did cleaning up from the party take them a little bit longer than anticipated, thereby halting all construction progress for many, many days? What is the deal here?
What is this? Luxury hotel construction pissing off the neighbors? Why, it can't be!
Yet that's the word on the street from the New York Daily News. For New York's Fashion Week, Andre Balazs' unfinished Standard Hotel is hosting Interview magazine's redesign party and the overtime construction has the neighbors wishing workers would check out early.
Can't say we blame them! First the sounds of 7 a.m.-to-7 p.m. construction and then being subjected to the smell of model vomit? We'd be pretty teed off too.
Thanks to Jaunted editor PBB for keeping a look out on the NYC Hotel Scene for us. He took this snapshot of the slowly rising Standard NYC which is actually looking like a real building these days. Thank you Papa Gepetto/Balazs!
The scene: the penthouse at the Standard Downtown L.A.. The occasion: the 2008 ESPY Awards. The guests: Kiefer Sutherland, Joss Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Mario Lopez. The host: Justin Timberlake. Oh man.
As the official host of the ESPY Awards, the Standard housed a good number of star athletes for the week leading up to the awards - which took place yesterday but air on Sunday - complete with an ESPY Style Studio, "a three-day gifting experience" which, in less fancy terms, means everyone scored lots and lots of cool swag.
J. Tim hosted the star-studded penthouse bash last night to top off the awards festivities (he hosted the awards ceremony too).
The day before the J. Tim soiree, the hotel also threw a full-day pool party and BBQ.
Still, we are doubtful Justin actually slept over. This is a Standard Hotel, afterall. Not the Ritz.
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Standard Downtown LA and the ESPY Awards: The Standard in Downtown LA is the place to go should you want to stalk anyone attending the ESPY awards. The hotel is in the midst of hosting a three-day gifting lounge and today it's the scene of a full-day pool party and barbeque.
· Portfolio Mag "Discovers" Hotel WiFi Charges: What's more annoying? The fact that Joe Brancatelli is just now writing about the Hotel WiFi landscape or that he gets a Portfolio-sized paycheck to do so? Since we obviously aren't in this gig for the money, we'll pick the former. C'mon Joe, it's 2008 already!
· Expedia Wants Venere: Major booking site will get more major. Expedia plans to acquire Venere, an Italian-based European booking site.
· Not All Hotel Mattresses are Created Heavenly: If you spend a lot of time on the road, your back problems could be blamed on hotel mattresses. One cricket player in the UK says sleeping in different hotel beds while on the road has hurt his back. Btw, we think we just came up with the new tagline for Westin Hotels.
A tipster on the ground in the Meatpacking District snapped a few of these construction shots of the Standard NYC along with the following message:
It's gonna be some grand welcome - poor Gansevoort doesn't have a chance. Anyone with binoculars at Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi will be able to witness quite a few strip shows (and more) on any given night once it opens. This will be one sexified hotel.
Our tipster also said that if you look closely underneath the highline, there are some "silvery arched windows", suggesting these may be a part of the lobby.
Mad love to our tipster for sending us these shots. But frankly, we're just bored of looking at construction shots. Open this place up Andre!
Guest of a Guest managed to score some photos of the inside of Andre Balazs' upcoming Standard NYC. We've been keeping tabs on the property's construction via the exterior shots on the Standard's website (the opening date is still MIA, with a "coming soonish" in its place), but these are the first images we've seen of the inside -- and it looks like these rooms have killer views!
Unfortunately, these pics don't explain what the hell those curtains we saw were all about....
A few months ago the marketing persona of the Standard Hotel group, Stan d'Arde, was kicked off Facebook since he's not a real person. But in the background since December, Stan's been quietly blogging away on the Stan d'Arde blog. You can't keep a good man down.
