Sean Murray: Today on deBanked News, The Roosevelt Hotel in New
York City is closing. Let's go over to Johny Fernandez, who is
over there right now.
Johny Fernandez: Hey, Sean, so right behind me is the Roosevelt
Hotel. Now it survived the Great Depression, World War II, and it
was also home to Broker Fair 2019 but at the end of the
month, it will close its doors forever. A hotel spokesperson
says this decision came after suffering pandemic related
losses. They say the iconic hotel along with most of New
York City has experienced very low demand and as a result, the
hotel will cease operations. It says there are currently no
plans for the building beyond the scheduled closing. The hotel
will be added to the growing list of staple New York City
businesses that have closed as a result of COVID.
Speaker: It's so sad that this place is closing because it's a
New York icon. This ------ this -------, a lot of movies were
filmed in this place.
Johny Fernandez: The Roosevelt opened its doors in 1924. It was
named and built to honor the nation's 26th President Theodore
Roosevelt. It was constructed during the prohibition and later
became the modern trend of featuring designer store windows
on the street from later on. The building was purchased by the
limited investment branch of Pakistan International Airlines,
or PIA in 1999. The hotel has appeared in a number of movies,
including Maid in Manhattan, Malcolm X and The Irishman.
Usually the hotel appears packed with guests and employees, but
back in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more
than 7 million jobs were lost because of the shutdown and also
because of travel restrictions. And as of September, here in New
York City hotels fell below 40% capacity. According to the
State's Department of Labor, there were roughly 500 people
employed by the hotel when management issued furloughs back
in March.
Speaker: They've been really open through the whole pandemic
but it had like minimum people working a couple of co-workers
were here, I'm still trying to digest it, you know, because I
know the pandemic is not the fault because the pandemic came
and you know, disrupt everything but they just leave us hanging
like in the air. I put my daughter through school, I put
my son in dental school with this place. It was a blessing
for me, you know, so it made me kind of sad now.
Johny Fernandez: Like I mentioned earlier, the Roosevelt
is near and dear to deBanked. This was actually the home to
Broker Fair 2019 where Sean Murray spoke in the same
ballroom where Michael Douglas delivered his famous "Greed is
Good" speech
Sean Murray: funding small business, clarifies, cuts
through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary
spirit.
Johny Fernandez: Murry played off that speech by putting his
own spin on it in front of a sold out crowd. He said funding
a small business, for lack of a better phrase is good. But
unfortunately, the Roosevelt did not receive the funding it
needed. And it will close its doors forever. Reporting here in
Manhattan. I'm Johny Fernandez with deBanked News. Sean, back
over to you.
Sean Murray: Thanks, Johny. It may not just be hotels we're
losing here in New York, analysts were originally
predicting that one out of every four restaurants in New York
would go out of business as well. However, when we talked to
Jared Weitz, the CEO of United capital Source, he thought the
number was closer to two out of four.
Jared Weitz: They actually estimate that one in every four
restaurants is going to drop off, I'm saying it's going to be
two. So I'm actually going higher based upon what you're
just mentioning. And I would also just dovetail into saying
landlords have given six to eight month reprieve to a lot of
restaurants during this time, and that term is going to end
soon. So you're going to go back to having to pay whatever rent
while you're at 25 to 35% capacity and serving. And it's
going to be a little more difficult for fine dining or,
you know, catering halls or bigger, you know, places like
that to have a larger staff or to have a higher rent.
Sean Murray: The city council later passed a bill that gave
restaurants the ability to charge an extra 10% to their
customers for COVID relief. So they basically gave them
permission to raise their prices, which presumably they
already could have done. So we'll see if it has any effect.
Sad news about The Roosevelt and until next time, I'm Sean Murray
with deBanked News.