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| All photos by Eric Laignel |
1 Hotel Central Park, the second property in the recently-launched 1 Hotels brand, opened earlier this month in New York City, and is on its way to opening its new signature restaurant later this week.
The property, which was designed to be in keeping with the new brand's eco-savvy ethos, stands one block south from Central Park and sports an ivy-covered façade as an homage to the nearby green space.
Led by internal design team of Kemper Hyers, the brand tapped popular New York-based AvroKO to design the hotel and restaurant, Damian Harris of Harrison Green for landscape design, AgroSci to create the hotel’s three-story exterior green wall, and Sprout Home provides green touches throughout the hotel, including Brooklyn Glass terrariums in guestrooms.
Chef Jonathan Waxman is at the helm of the signature restaurant, Jams, as well as room service and on-site catering. Set to open later this week, the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily out of a high-energy open kitchen. The cuisine aims for a local, seasonal focus.
Using the building’s original industrial architecture as a reference point, the design brings in natural materials such as woods, bricks, marble, stone and glass. An emblematic touch: The two large steel doors that form the hotel's entryway have 16,000 fallen twigs embedded in them.
Guestrooms continue the natural theme with locally made furniture, as well as select rooms with reclaimed wooden timbers and window seats that extend from the building -- ideal for taking in the views of Manhattan. Bathrooms are rendered in Breccia Capraia marble, mushroom wood, concrete tiles and reclaimed brick with rustic copper fixtures and glass-enclosed Napa-style paned walk-in showers meant to be reminiscent of indoor greenhouses.
Furnishings and infrastructure elements will adhere to green building and LEED standards, 1 Hotels said.
The hotel also takes pains to be paperless, with hi- (and low-) tech touches ranging from electronic check-in to bedside chalkboards in lieu of notepads to an in-room Nexus device pre-loaded with newspapers, magazines, and the 1 Guide, the 1 Hotels app to control all aspects of the room, from television to communications and temperature. There is also complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi, oncierge services, 24-hour in-room dining, access to Tesla premium electric vehicle rides within a 15-block radius, complimentary valet for all electric vehicles for overnight guests, and complimentary bicycle valet parking.
A communal space on the second floor is available for guests to work or relax and enjoy a drink from Jams.
1 Hotel Central Park follows the March 2015 opening of 1 Hotel South Beach and will soon be joined by 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2016.