For years, we have been expecting a 200-room Ace Hotel to open in the former Salvation Army building at 223-225 Bowery. But the 14-story project has been shrouded in secrecy. Today, the Ace team is finally unleashing their marketing campaign.
According to a press release, the hotel will be called “Sister City,” and it’s expected to open in the fall of this year. While it’s not carrying “Ace” branding, the project is being managed by Atelier Ace, the hospitality firm’s in-house creative agency. The rendering you see above was not part of today’s release (it was included weeks ago in a liquor license application to Community Board 3). Here’s the lone image released today:
And here’s the high concept explainer of the Lower East Side’s latest hipster hangout:
Sister City is an experiment in essentialism; a hotel distilled to its most beautiful, working parts. Created by the people behind Ace Hotel, Sister City offers 200 intimate, efficient rooms, a ground-floor restaurant and a rooftop bar right on Bowery, Manhattan’s oldest and most storied thoroughfare… For this new brand, we asked what was needed for today’s traveler, and shaved off the excess. We considered aesthetic sustenance, human connection and modern needs. We took inspiration from the functional perfection of Finnish saunas, Japanese bento boxes, rock-cut cliff dwellings of prehistory and John Cage’s 4’33”. The result: a new prototype for compassionate hospitality where efficiency and beauty find union. Sister City provides you shelter from the elements, but orients you to the wider world, as well.
Just last night, Community Board 3 approved the hotel’s liquor license applications. Nick Morgenstern (Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream) is operating a ground floor restaurant and an 11th floor restaurant/lounge. Both venues have significant outdoor spaces. Local residents have expressed concerns about a hotel entrance on Freeman Alley, where there have been noise complaints in past years. Morgenstern was at the meeting last night. He spokes briefly, thanking the community board for working with him on the liquor permits. He’s agreed to abide by a number of operating restrictions, regulating hours, crowd control, etc.
