Michelle Williams, Jane Krakowski and Lucien Laviscount were among the starry guests helping to usher in the grand reopening of the W New York – Union Square over the weekend. One of the most iconic hotels in Manhattan, with its neon “W” logo perched on the rooftop, the property unveiled a $100 million transformation before a diverse crowd of actors, musicians, influencers and local tastemakers that also included names like Ella Emhoff, Hari Nef, Moses Sumney and rapper Slick Rick.
The invite-only event kicked off with an intimate dinner at the W’s new brasserie-inspired seafood restaurant, Seahorse, before guests ascended the sweeping lobby staircase into the second floor “Living Room” space, which transformed an old ballroom into an opulent cocktail and dancing lounge for the night (it’ll also be open to the public nightly). Dressed in a black Schiaparelli dress with gold, chain-link straps, Williams tucked into a corner booth with friends, while Laviscourt made the rounds to mingle with the crowd while enjoying DJ sets from Toro y Moi and DJ Desiree.
Emilio Madrid
The W tapped design firm Rockwell Group for its “room-to-rooftop reinvention,” with founder David Rockwell explaining that he wanted to bring the “landscaping of New York” indoors, to create an “inviting” and “more natural space.”
To wit: soaring columns and architectural rooms pay homage to the city’s skyline, while interiors draw from the green, blue and orange colorways of New York fauna and foliage. Custom tiling and light fixtures, meantime, are inspired by old subway stations.
The new space also features intentional touchpoints to the hotel’s Union Square surroundings, with murals that reflect the eclectic spirit of the artists and street performers outside the hotel doors, and fresh flowers inspired by the bustling farmer’s market. Side tables in the bedrooms, meantime, feature chessboard tabletops, just like the ones seen in the park.
According to George Fleck, the SVP and Global Brand Leader for W Hotels, EDITION, and St. Regis, the Union Square property was due for a refresh.
“W has always been a leader in the hospitality and lifestyle space, but now you have 20 or more lifestyle brands in the world and customers really can no longer understand the difference between them,” he offers. “And so, as we were going through our brand reviews, we kind of five years ago said, ‘You know, I think we can’t just keep pushing things as we have in the past,’ but maybe we need to take a step back and say, with the rise of that lifestyle bubble becoming bigger and bigger, are we really standing out enough?”
Renovation talks began just prior to the pandemic, and while the hotel never officially shut down for business in 2020, Fleck says the quieter occupancy “actually gave us some breathing room to really think about the design.”
Chief among the priorities was to make sure that the design ethos was not only elevated, but that it extended to the entire property, with Fleck noting that “people now live in hotel rooms — they’re not just for sleeping.” That means plush carpeting in the rooms and high-end furnishings that encourage guests to spread out and work (or relax). The newly-expanded gym, meantime, transforms an old underground nightclub into a fitness center that rivals some of the top membership clubs in the city.
“We hope that people will choose the hotel because it makes them feel like they’re not staying in a hotel, but maybe in like a beautiful little New York apartment,” Fleck says.
Up next: curating the public spaces like Living Room and the soon-to-be-opened rooftop bar with entertainment offerings that Fleck says could range from special music nights to fashion pop-ups to art exhibitions. “We’re not just another hotel,” he says, “but [rather] something that can become a platform for experiences that feel hyper local. Whether you’re coming for a drink after work or want to impress somebody who’s visiting from out of town, we’ve created a wonderful new destination for people to experience New York.”
