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W New York Downtown Shoots For December 1st, 2009

Where: 123 Washington Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10006

Today in "good luck with that one" news: we never thought we'd see the day, but the W New York Downtown seems to have selected an opening date.

For a long time, the hotel's website was sittin' pretty with an "Opening 2010" splashed up across the top, and the only news we were hearing about the place were coming in the form of updates on the latest construction disasters and some rather upsetting outdoor terrace views.

However, the site doesn't have a whole lot of info about the hotel itself (no amenity lists, bookable rooms or particularly groundbreaking renderings — well, except for this one of the sky bar, above), but at least there's a date, right?

Not to be those people, but we're going to guess the actual opening might arrive sometime in March or April of 2010. But we'll see, won't we?

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No W For Downtown NYC Until 2010

Where: 123 Washington Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10036

Oh, New York City. You have so many visitors and so many hotels and so many opportunities and so much wonder and merriment and oh, so, so, so many hotel delays.

The latest in hotel delay news today comes to us by way of an eagle-eyed tipster, who noticed the opening date of the W New York Downtown had quietly changed on the hotel's website from "Summer 2009" to the vague "2010," which is particularly upsetting because it is now the only W property on the coming-soon-from-Starwood roster without a concrete opening date posted. You know, kind of like being the only kid in the high school graduating class who has "Undecided" listed as his college of choice on graduation day. Sad.

We knew the W Residences in the same FiDi building have not been without their own set of issues; namely, most good views from the condos remain blocked by a close-enough-to-touch building next-door, which is supposed to be razed sooner rather than later but who knows. Still, the hotel was expected to open on time this summer — alas, it appears, not so much.

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W New York Downtown's Bar Will Not Have Intoxicating Views

Hmm. There is a distinct possibility that the first martinis we will sip at W New York Downtown's will be garnished with pieces of...a building.

We realize that New York is a big city and there are buildings everywhere and they're close together and whatnot, but we're not going to let this one go by: Curbed reports today that sales at W New York Downtown's residential portion have been slow — though the hotel portion of the building is still expected to open up this summer (let's not hold our breath) — and much of that may have to do with the fact that its neighbor, a soon-to-be-razed Deutsche Bank Building that was rendered uninhabitable years ago, is super, super close to the W building.

And the presence of that building is not just going to be an issue for prospective W condo owners, but for W Hotel guests as well.

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Don't Expect A Huge Party for W NYC Downtown Opening

Where: 123 Washington Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10036

When the W NYC Downtown opens later this year, don't expect a huge blow-out party to celebrate the opening like W Hotels are known for doing. In fact this hotel may open with nothing more than a press release and the ability to book rooms on the W Hotels website.

In today's New York Post, Joseph Moinian the developer of the project stated his concerns for how many rooms will be available and how soft of an opening it will have.

The majority of the hotel rooms face the abandoned Deutsche Bank building which is slowly being deconstructed after suffering major damage from the 9/11 attacks. Originally the building was supposed to be completely demolished by the end of 2005 but even today around 25 stories still remain and block the view from most of the guest rooms at the W next door. The residences, however, seem to have better views. (The hotel rooms are on floors floors 6-22 while the residences take up floors 23-56.)

Aside from major anti-views, the streets surrounding the W NYC Downtown are a bit treacherous. During our visit to the site last week, we found the sidewalks to be either closed or covered with scaffolding in case materials fall from the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building.

According to the RenewNYC.com website which details the demolition of the building, they expect the building to be fully demolished by Fall 2009, but considering the building was originally due to be demolished by 2005, then 2007, then 2008, we wouldn't be too surprised if the Fall 2009 date changed again.

On a good note though, Moinian refuses to delay the opening, saying the hotel will still open this year no matter what happens next door.

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Crane Fiasco Ain't Stoppin' the W NYC Downtown

Where: 123 Washington St [map], New York, ny, United States, 10036

Last week during a random jaunt into New York City we stopped by the construction site of the W NYC Downtown. This was one of the hotels caught up in that whole "cranes falling from the sky" fiasco which shut down the crane at this site and other sites throughout NYC.

Then to make matters worse - the cement truckers union in NYC is currently on strike - further delaying progress of the site.

Well with all that, we're happy to report that construction is still proceeding - we witnessed plenty of workers around the site doing whatever it is that they do.

And that concrete truck shortage? They got that covered too - we saw an entire tractor trailer unloading hundreds of bags of cement mix. Ain't no stinkin unions gonna stop the W!

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W Downtown NYC Will Probably be Delayed

Where: 123 Washington St. [map], New York, ny, United States, 10036

Looks like the W New York Downtown is going to be delayed for a bit.

The D.O.B. issued a stop-work order on the project because of a questionable crane in use for the construction.

The crane was manufactured by Kodiak and owned by New York crane -- just like the two cranes that collapsed this year -- and was to be taken out of service until a thorough inspection was completed.

But things didn't quite go as planned: The Real Deal (via the NYDN) reports that cracks were found "in the turning mechanism of a tower crane," which means the green light likely won't be coming any time soon.

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W Hotels Needs To Start Varying It Up

Where: 123 Washington Street, New York, United States

The W New York Downtown rendering.

Flipping through the latest issue of New York magazine, we saw a little blurb on the W New York Downtown at 123 Washington Street which is expected to open in 2009.

The focus was really on the 159 residential units atop the hotel but you can expect all the typical W hotel services such an in-house Bliss Spa and Whatever/Whenever.

We have one word for all this. Boring. W Hotels has five other hotels on Manhattan, plus an upcoming one in Hoboken. If the hotel offers all the same services in each hotel (and probably all one-worded descriptions like Wet and Sweat), then there is really no difference other than location (which is synonymous with price here in Manhattan) and probably the in-house restaurant.

The hotel has almost two years before it opens so hopefully this will give them enough time to, in the words of a great man of design Tim Gunn, "make it work."

[Photo: Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, Architects]

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