By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — The Eagle has learned that there are 40 hotel projects in the pipeline for Brooklyn.

Data received from Smith Travel Research Inc. (STR), a firm that provides news and data on the global hotel industry as well as market forecast reports, also said those 40 projects, which are in various phases of development, equate to 3,805 hotel rooms.

An article in The Real Deal earlier this week noted that a total of 46 new hotels are scheduled to open in 2010 in New York City. But the article, by well known columnist and radio show host Michael Stoler, did not mention any Brooklyn hotels. Stoler did cite data provided by STR, however.

Contacted by email, STR told the Eagle Thursday that 12 hotels are scheduled to open in Brooklyn in 2010, but further details are not available.

What Rachael Spann, communications coordinator for STR, was able to provide was a breakdown in phases of the 40 projects, as follows:

• In construction: 15 projects, 1,588 rooms.

• In final planning: two projects, 50 rooms.

• In planning: 21 projects, 1,862 rooms.

• In pre-planning: two projects, 305 rooms.

Markowitz Responds

Reached late Thursday, Brooklyn Borough President said of the news, “I can’t think of a better symbol of Brooklyn’s progress than new hotels, which started back in 1998 with the opening of Brooklyn’s first new hotel in nearly 70 years — the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, which has expanded in the past few years and is doing great business.�

Markowitz also said that Brooklyn is now a destination of choice for tourists, business travelers and conventions, and with its revitalized Downtown, a new sports arena and the Brooklyn Nets, “our borough is an ideal location for new hotel development.�

Hotel Openings

As for known hotel openings in Brooklyn in 2010, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership told the Eagle Thursday that two Downtown Brooklyn hotels are scheduled to open this year, both on Duffield Street. The details, obtained from their separate web sites, are as follows:

• Sheraton Brooklyn, 228 Duffield St., with 320 rooms, 4,876 square feet of meeting facility space, plus a bar, lounge, restaurant and fitness center, is scheduled to open March 15;

• Aloft New York Brooklyn, 216 Duffield St., with 176 rooms, the 700-square-foot meeting space called Tactic, plus the Wxyz bar, Re:Mix lounge and Re:Fuel, a 24/7 pantry, is scheduled to open on July. 1 As reported by the Eagle when construction first began, the Aloft was described as “hip� by John Lam of The Lam Group, a Manhattan-based builder of hotels in the city.

“The Sheraton will be more of a formal business traveler hotel; the aLoft will appeal more to the hip, young population who need a place of their own,� he said, adding that Brooklyn is definitely attracting this population now.

Describing the design by architect Gene Kaufman as “sleek,� he added, “It will have a very exciting look. It will change the whole neighborhood.�

Other Downtown Hotels

As most recently reported by the Eagle in 2009, a Hyatt Place is under construction at 40 Nevins St. with 176 rooms, a project of the McSam Group; and a Best Western is planned at 55 Flatbush Ave. Extension with 80 rooms.

They join The Marriott on Adams Street (656 rooms with its new addition); the conjoined Aloft/Sheraton on Duffield Street (500 rooms); Hotel Indigo, also on Duffield Street (164 rooms); The Nu Hotel at The Smith, Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue (93 rooms); Holiday Inn at 300 Schermer-horn St. (250 rooms); Hampton Inn at the former Pepper & Potter auto dealership site, 125 Flatbush Ave. Ext. (120 rooms estimated); and the joint Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn at Oro II, 313 Gold St. at Flatbush Avenue Extension (100 suites). As previously reported several of these are stalled sites.

And this does not include the proposed hotels at Brooklyn Bridge Park (100-200 rooms estimated) and in Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards Plan (150 rooms estimated in “Miss Brooklyn�).

The estimated number of hotel rooms that will be serving Downtown Brooklyn totals more than 2,500.

Gowanus Area Hotels

Another area that has aroused attention for its proliferation of hotels is the Gowanus/Park Slope area, where there are at least seven new hotels nearing completion or already opened, according to Eagle reports and reports on Brownstoner.com, which has been tracking them.

Among these are Choice Hotel at 611 DeGraw St, between Third and Fourth avenues, a project of Alex Shtromandel of Greenwich Street Equities; a Fairfield Inn at 181 Third Ave. at Butler, a 134-room, 9-story hotel; a proposed mixed-use hotel/office project at 92 Third St., between Bond and Hoyt streets, by Peter Moore; a Super 8 at 265 Third Ave. at President Street; the Gowanus Hotel at 13th and Third Avenue.

Already opened are Hotel Le Bleu on Fourth Avenue, the Holiday Inn Express on Union Street and the Comfort Inn on Butler Street, between Second and Third avenues.

Outlook Brighter Citywide

Stoler, noting in his article that the outlook for 2010 “is brighter for the hospitality industry,� said that for the week ending Jan. 16, New York City registered the highest increase in hotel occupancy, rising 15.3 percent to 70 percent. New York also saw the largest increase in revenue per available room, or revpar, year-over-year, jumping 7.1 percent to $131.81.

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