Jason Pomeranc

What used to be a Lower East Side destination has become a no-man’s land of rats, dirty streets and prolonged high-rise construction projects.

“People look down here and see a ghost town,” said a man who works on the block of Orchard Street just south of Houston. “And they just keep walking.”

The block had been a quintessential part of the reincarnated neighborhood. Its designer fashion boutiques, old-world fabric store, discount retailers, bars and restaurants reflected the gentrifying of the neighborhood at a tolerable pace. On Sundays, the street closed to cars to create a pedestrian mall, with many of the stores setting up displays in the middle of the street. In the summer, the block hosted the occasional food festival or local band.

But much of the sound on the block the past three years has been the noise from the construction of Jason Pomeranc’s 19-story boutique hotel at 200 Allen Street (the back of which sits on the west side of Orchard); and of developer Morris Platt’s 26-story condominium almost directly across from the hotel on the west side at 180 Orchard Street. More than three years ago, both developers bought up several one-story commercial buildings and razed those to make way for their projects.  read more »

Lodging blog Hotel Chatter today has compiled a preview of the "most buzzworthy" hotel openings for 2008 and discusses each one's chances for actually opening on time.

Among them: The Cooper Square Hotel near Astor Place, slated to open this coming spring. Given neighborhood concerns and "rumored falling out between developers/hoteliers Gregory Peck and Matthew Moss," the oddsmakers expect delays until August.

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• Another reminder of how overpriced our city's salad bars and apartments are. CNN reports that a couple who wanted a "moderately affluent lifestyle" in New York needed an income of $166,777--the highest in the country. More interesting, why is the poll based on couples? After all, NYC has the highest percentage of single-person households, according to the Census.
• The new American dream: "a two-bedroom condominium with a gym in the basement and a skyline view from the living room." Sound about right. (The New York Times)
• The fastest-growing city in the world is a "megalopolis you've never heard of." And, as urbanites come to outnumber townies, a challenge is posed to Darwin's thesis. "Humans have not evolved to fit our habitat, we have changed our habitat to suit ourselves." (Guardian)
• "Gardening is an equal-access pleasure," The New York Times tells the college-aged male.
• There are 20 new, grandly designed residential buildings in the Financial District, but beware of the hype, Fortune says.
• Del Posto brawl hits court today. (New York Post)
• A bachelor pad in tight quarters? No problem. Less travel time to the bed. (Apartment Therapy)
• The doormen of 3,500 New York apartment buildings may go on strike. (The New York Times)
• Jason Pomeranc is a hotel tease. Where are you 6 Columbus? (Hotel Chatter)
• Do svelter refridgerators equal a svelter you? (The New York Times)
• The New Yorker takes on the "otherworldly beauty" of the sport stadium. Is that what the park space supposed to do for the Yankees and Mets stadiums?
• Skip the picture if you have a queasy stomach, but the board of Trump World Tower has filed a lien against socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein for the third time in four years. (Page Six)