page_title: Wyndham New Yorker Hotel
section_title: Reopening
hierarchical_section_title: Wyndham New Yorker Hotel / History / Reopening
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking northwest across 8th Avenue at New Yorker Hotel
context_page_description: The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel is a 43-story Art Deco hotel located at 481 Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Opened in 1930, it contains 1,083 rooms and is classified as a mid-priced hotel. The 1-million-square-foot building offers two restaurants and approximately 33,000 square feet of conference space.
  The New Yorker Hotel was successful in its early years, hosting many famous personalities. In the 1950s, the hotel was sold multiple times, including to Hilton Hotels. By the time Hilton reacquired the New Yorker Hotel in 1967, it had become unprofitable and Hilton closed it in 1972. The Unification Church purchased the building in 1975, and two decades later, elected to convert a portion of the building to use as a hotel again. Since re-opening as a hotel in 1994, the New Yorker Hotel has undergone approximately $100 million in capital improvements, including lobby and room renovations and infrastructure modernization. It has been part of the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts chain since 2014.
context_section_description: In 1994, the Unification Church elected to convert a portion of the building to use as a hotel again and the New Yorker Hotel Management Company took over operation of the building. It began the largest renovation project in the New Yorker's nearly 65-year history, completed in 1999, with $20 million in capital improvements. The hotel joined the Ramada chain in 2000.
  In 2005, the hotel's management began the process of replacing the New Yorker's famous sign, which hadn't been lit since 1967 and was badly in need of repair. The sign was completely replaced by an energy efficient LED sign that was installed in time to celebrate the hotel's 75th Anniversary.
  A 75th Anniversary celebratory event was held at the hotel on December 8, 2005, where the new sign was officially switched on for the first time by Dr. Charles Yang, President of the New Yorker Hotel Management Company, Kevin H. Smith, the hotel's General Manager, Alan Ostroff, of the Cornell University School of Hotel Management, Jeanne Cummins, vocalist of the Bernie Cummins Orchestra, the hotel's house band in the 1930s and Patricia Hitz-Bradshaw, granddaughter of Ralph Hitz, the hotel's first General Manager.
  In August 2007, the hotel began a second capital improvement program, which was completed in February 2009 at a final cost of $70 million. These improvements increased the number of guest rooms available from 178 in 1994 to 912, located on floors 19 through 40.
  
  The renovation project was designed by Stonehill & Taylor Architects. Interior improvements included room restructuring and augmentation (now called "Metro" and "City View" rooms). Other improvements included a refurbished front entrance, lobby redesign, foyer reconstruction, and ballroom renovations. The hotel also expanded its Wi-Fi and PDA support, and added high-definition flat-screen televisions in all rooms. In addition, individual room air-conditioning units were replaced with modern centralized heating and cooling systems throughout the entire hotel. In 2009, conference room space was added to the hotel through the conversion of a defunct Manufacturer's Hanover Bank branch in the hotel, bringing the total meeting space to just over 33,000 square feet (3,100 m²), in two ballrooms and twelve conference rooms.
  The New Yorker Hotel joined the Wyndham Hotels chain in March 2014. Wyndham has undertaken additional upgrades to the hotel, including lobby and restaurant renovations, to attract more business travelers in anticipation of the massive Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project to the west.
caption: 8th Avenue entrance
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