Irwin Chanin was an American architect and real estate developer who designed several Art Deco towers and Broadway theaters. He and his brother Henry designed their first Manhattan buildings in 1924, including the
Chanin Building. They then built and operated a number of theaters and other structures related to the entertainment industry, including the
Roxy Theatre.
Development The Chanin brothers had acquired the Claman site in May 1925. The Chanins planned to build a 20-story hotel on Eighth Avenue and three theaters on the side streets. In March 1926, Krapp filed plans with the
New York City Department of Buildings for the hotel and theaters, which were projected to cost $4.5 million. The total site, including land, was expected to cost $10 million. That July, the Chanin brothers received a $7.5 million loan for the four developments from S. W. Straus & Co. The three theaters were all named in December 1926; from largest to smallest, they were the Majestic, Royale, and Masque. The Chanins announced the same month that the hotel was to be known as the Lincoln. The brothers were also attempting to sell the hotel and
lease it back for 21 years. Workers began erecting the steel frame on February 15, 1927. The Chanin brothers resold the hotel in June 1927 to Irving I. Lewine and the United Cigar Stores Company. The Chanin brothers leased back the hotel for 63 years, except for the storefront at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 45th Street. The hotel's owners rented out three storefronts in August 1927. Later that year, additional storefronts were rented out to a shirt store and a barber shop. In January 1928, eighty-one truckloads of furniture were delivered to the site, and the owners announced the hotel's opening date. Upon its completion, the Lincoln was the tallest residential building around Times Square, as well as the tallest hotel in Manhattan west of Broadway. The hotel informally opened on January 31, 1928, when it started offering meal service to guests. The first recorded guest was a businessman from
Houston, Texas. Governor
Al Smith and mayor
Jimmy Walker both sent the Chanins congratulatory telegrams after the Lincoln opened. The hotel's formal opening ceremony took place on February 13, 1928, coinciding with the observance of the
Lincoln's Birthday holiday. At the official opening ceremony, a portrait of Lincoln was dedicated in the hotel's lobby, and Smith pressed a button at his
Albany office to illuminate the hotel's rooftop sign.
Early years Cigar Stores ownership Irwin Chanin initially rented out rooms for $3 to $5 per night. That October, radio station
WGBS opened an auxiliary studio atop the Hotel Lincoln. The Cigar Stores Realty Company bought the Hotel Lincoln in January 1929 as part of a $25 million purchase of multiple properties. The following month, the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company lent $3.8 million to the Lincoln's owners. Among the hotel's early events were meetings of the Theatrical Stock Managers' Association; meetings for
John F. Hylan's 1929 mayoral campaign; and awards ceremonies for farmers. In addition, one of the storefronts was leased as a drugstore in 1930. The United Cigar Stores Company acquired the Chanin brothers' lease of the hotel in 1931. The hotel was losing $350,000 annually by the next year. The hotel became part of the Reliance Property Management chain in February 1933, and the Irving Trust Company appointed Frank W. Kridel as the hotel's operator that June. The same month, the hotel received a permit to sell alcoholic beverages after
Prohibition in the United States was repealed. Between 1930 and 1937, the hotel also hired big-name bands to play in the Blue Room for $2,500 a week. The hotel also hosted events such as a 1936 exhibition of Lincoln-related memorabilia. Kridel continued to manage the Lincoln Hotel until 1937
Kramer ownership United Cigar Stores continued to own the hotel until May 1938, when it sold the Lincoln to Maria Kramer, owner of the
Hotel Edison, for $7 million. United Cigars received $360,000 in cash and sold Kramer stock in the Lincoln Inc., the company that legally owned the building. Under Kramer's ownership, Consolidated Radio Artists received exclusive rights to perform in the hotel's grill room. The hotel's Blue Room became a popular venue for name bands, competing with nightclubs for business, and
Variety magazine cited the Lincoln as "an important danceband outlet". The Blue Room was shuttered at the beginning of January 1942 but reopened that March. The Blue Room's performers included jazz pianist
Count Basie; trumpeter
Erskine Hawkins; and clarinetist
Artie Shaw. In particular, Basie's band had been the first nonwhite band to perform at the Blue Room in 1943. The Lincoln's Blue Room closed for renovations in 1946, but the room was damaged by a flood just before it was to reopen; as a result, the room did not reopen until early 1947. After Maria Kramer's husband Max died in 1946, Kramer and her stepsons became involved in a legal dispute over who owned the hotel. In January 1949, Kramer took over full ownership of the Lincoln and relinquished the Hotel Edison to her stepsons. The hotel was still three-fourths occupied as late as 1952. but the canteen closed in February 1954 due to a lack of funds. At the beginning of November 1955, the city government alleged that the Lincoln Hotel contained several violations of city building codes, including defective exit doors, "dirty and unsanitary" furnishings, and missing lights. The New York City Department of Housing said the violations dated to 1948 and recommended that Kramer be fined $500 and jailed for 30 days. By then, only 200 rooms on the lowest floors were in use, and the third through 27th floors were closed off completely. Kramer was ultimately fined $250, and she announced at the end of November 1955 that she was selling the hotel.
Zeckendorf operation Renovation In March 1956,
Webb and Knapp, operated by real estate developer
William Zeckendorf, purchased the Lincoln Hotel from Kramer, along with the Roosevelt Hotel in Washington, D.C. Zeckendorf said he had acquired the two hotels "because of the potential inherent in the properties". The deal involved $10 million in cash. The sale of the two hotels was supposed to be finalized in May 1956 but was delayed by two months. Immediately after acquiring the Lincoln, Zeckendorf sold the hotel for $8.5 million to an unidentified investor and immediately
leased back the property. which was budgeted at $3 million to $4 million. Many of the holdouts were long-term residents who had consistently lived in the hotel since 1949 and were thus protected by
state rent regulation laws. Thirteen tenants asked for buyouts of between $7,000 and $10,000 each, although Zeckendorf was only willing to pay $3,000 per tenant. The hotel began selling off furnishings and furniture at the beginning of August 1956, excluding items in the apartments that were still occupied. Within four days, all of the items in the building had been sold. Shortly afterward, the last rent-controlled tenants, including a woman who had lived there since 1929, agreed to move in exchange for a buyout of $3,000 each. The existing Hotel Lincoln sign was removed on August 17, 1956, and workers began demolishing part of the hotel's interior. The last tenant moved out on August 22, 1956, although some homeless people remained in the building past that date. The next month, the hotel was renamed the
Manhattan Hotel. Frank Kridel, who had managed the Lincoln in the 1930s, was rehired as the Manhattan's manager in December 1956. As part of the project, the lowest three stories were almost entirely demolished, and new restaurants, offices, and ballrooms were constructed there. and Harold Kelley was appointed as the Manhattan's resident manager the same month.
Reopening and operation Webb and Knapp had originally planned to formally reopen the hotel on October 15, 1957. to accommodate baseball fans attending the
World Series. The hotel, which cost $5.5 million to renovate, was advertised as the first new luxury hotel in Manhattan since the
Waldorf Astoria New York opened in 1931. However, he did not want to attract trade shows, which he believed would damage the hotel both physically and in reputation. By January 1958, all 1,400 rooms had been opened, but the Playbill Restaurant was not complete. Kridel said at the time that the hotel had accommodated over 150,000 guests, 25 college and professional football teams, and 23 conventions since its reopening. Although Webb and Knapp initially contemplated hiring a band to play at the hotel, This plan was approved in June 1961, and Freedomland U.S.A., assumed the leases on the three hotels. After Kridel died in 1961, Harold V. Varr was appointed as the hotel's general manager at the beginning of 1964, after Schel was promoted to a vice president within Zeckendorf's company. Webb and Knapp were deeply in debt by 1964. Lincoln Associates, which owned the land under the Manhattan, had taken over the hotel's finances, though Zeckendorf was still in charge of day-to-day operation. Manastor Associates, which held the primary lease on the Manhattan Hotel and subleased it to Webb and Knapp, started paying the hotel's salaries and other operating expenses that May. Zeckendorf was trying to buy Manastor at the time but was unable to complete the purchase. The 91468 Corporation, a subsidiary of Webb and Knapp that operated the Manhattan, filed for bankruptcy protection in August 1964, with about $6.4 million in liabilities and about $5.7 million in assets. After Webb and Knapp went bankrupt the next year, Lincoln Associates took over operation of the Manhattan. The owners appointed Joseph Hanfling as the hotel's general manager in 1966.
Grand Metropolitan ownership and closure In October 1968, Abraham Kamber of Lincoln Associates said his firm was selling the hotel, although he did not know the names of the buyers. Grand Metropolitan bought the Manhattan for $10 million in January 1969. The hotel was immediately renamed the
Royal Manhattan, reflecting the buyer's British heritage. Grand Metropolitan largely advertised the hotel toward foreign tourists. and the hotel also hosted events such as British antiques shows. By the early 1970s, the hotel was losing $1 million per year, prompting Grand Metropolitan Inc. to announce in November 1974 that they would close the hotel. The owners claimed that they could not afford to pay the hotel's taxes, which amounted to $625,000 per year. At the time, many non-luxury hotels in New York City were suffering financially. In addition, the surrounding neighborhood had declined significantly, and the nearby
Times Square had become associated with prostitution and high crime. The hotel closed on December 7, 1974; by then, the hotel was valued at just $4 million. Grand Metropolitan tried to sell the hotel but struggled to find a buyer. The Royal Manhattan was one of three shuttered hostelries on Eighth Avenue in Midtown that were having trouble attracting buyers; the others were the
New Yorker Hotel and the 51st Street
YWCA. The New York City government scheduled a foreclosure auction for the hotel in November 1975. Although the hotel was offered for $1.8 million, the auction did not attract any bids. The terms of the sale, which one real estate analyst described as "severe", required potential buyers to make mortgage payments for at least five years. bought the hotel in December 1975. The buyers paid about $500,000, plus $175,000 in back taxes. although the city government revised the hotel's valuation to $4.5 million in 1976. Investors began to express interest in converting hotels to apartment buildings after the New York City government amended its J-51 tax abatement program in early 1976. who bought the hotel the same year. In preparation for the planned apartment conversion, the hotel's owners began auctioning off its furnishings in July 1976; the auction was expected to last several months. Homeless people frequented the boarded-up hotel. Its restaurant was featured in the 1977 erotic film
Barbara Broadcast, directed by
Radley Metzger.
Milstein ownership Renovation and reopening Sisix Corporation, representing the Milstein family, By early 1979, the Milsteins had still not received a mortgage; because of high demand for hotel rooms around Times Square, they were considering reopening the hotel instead of converting it into apartments. The next year, the New York City government's Industrial Commercial Incentive Board voted to grant a tax abatement for the redevelopment. After the hotel reopened, the family would pay reduced taxes for 20 years, and the tax abatement would be reduced by 5 percent each year. The Milsteins planned to spend $14.5 million on renovations, The Milsteins wanted to attract guests who were visiting nearby Broadway theaters. The Milstein family wished to open the hotel by mid-1980 in advance of the
1980 Democratic National Convention. Milford Plaza reopened on August 1, 1980. It offered moderately priced rooms for between $39 and $49. The hotel was one of several in Midtown Manhattan to be completed during the early 1980s, amid an increase in
tourism in New York City.
1980s to 2000s When the Milford Plaza opened,
Manhattan Community Board 5 gave the Milsteins an award "for the courageous reopening of a hotel on Eighth Avenue". Architectural critic
Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that the hotel rooms were "badly needed", In the first three months after the hotel's reopening, the Milford Plaza's resident manager Gregory Rizzi said the hotel "has been running at full occupancy, and I would say that between 65 and 70 percent of our volume is foreign tourists." Even at the end of 1980, the hotel was still 90 percent occupied, in spite of the
early 1980s recession. However, the recession caused the occupancy rate to decline during early 1981, and Paul Milstein estimated that he lost $5 million as a result. According to
The New York Times, some observers credited the hotel with helping spur the revitalization of Times Square. As part of a publicity campaign, Cinema Projects produced a TV advertisement for the hotel called "Lullabuy of Broadway," which first aired on June 21, 1982. The advertisement, which used the song "
Lullaby of Broadway", became widely known; Paul Milstein later described it as the first "national advertising gimmick for a non-chain hotel". The Mamma Leone's restaurant opened at the base of the Milford Plaza in 1988 and operated until 1994. Mamma Leone's parent company
Restaurant Associates also operated the hotel's room service during this time. Around the same time, the Milford Plaza's operators opened a health club and made plans for a fitness center. The hotel also installed a
currency exchange in its lobby. The Milford Plaza became a franchisee of the
Ramada hotel chain in 1994, although the franchise agreement expired in 2000. The Milstein family was involved in an acrimonious family dispute in the early 2000s. Paul Milstein's brother
Seymour claimed that Paul's son
Howard was mismanaging the hotel's finances. In response, Paul accused Seymour of trying to sell the building behind his back. Seymour Milstein died later that year, while the dispute was ongoing. Business declined significantly following the
September 11 attacks in 2001. The proposed sale of the Milford Plaza was delayed by one year, but brokers were about to sell the hotel by the end of 2002. The family ultimately agreed to a settlement in April 2003, and they canceled the sale of the Milford Plaza and several other properties. The Milsteins announced in September 2009 that the Milford Plaza was to undergo a renovation that would take 18 to 21 months. In preparation for the renovation, the Milsteins laid off 350 employees and closed the hotel that December. The Milstein family decided to suspend their renovation plan indefinitely in early 2010 due to an economic downturn.
Rockpoint and Highgate ownership In September 2010,
Rockpoint Group and hotel operator Highgate Holdings announced that they would purchase the hotel from the Milstein family for $200 million. This amounted to approximately $154,000 per room, a lower rate than other hotels in New York City that were sold around the same time. Rockpoint and Highgate partially reopened the hotel in November 2010. As part of the renovation, Rockpoint and Highgate added 62 rooms, bringing the hotel to 1,331 rooms. The hotel was also planned to include a food hall covering , within the Mama Leone's space, as well as a fitness center covering . The owners predicted that the three ownership units would sell for a combined $650 million.
David Werner, in partnership with Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management's real estate investment business, purchased the land parcel the next month for $325 million, about 30 percent more than what Rockpoint and Highgate had paid for the entire hotel three years earlier.
Thor Equities, led by
Joseph Sitt, agreed to buy the Milford Plaza's commercial condominium in 2013. The sale was finalized in April 2014, when Thor paid $64 million. Thor Equities subsequently received a $50 million mortgage loan for the site from
Goldman Sachs. The City Kitchen food court opened at the base of the Row NYC in March 2015, and Thor placed the commercial condominium for sale that June, with an asking price of $100 million. In February 2019, Highgate and Rockpoint placed the final piece of the property for sale, the hotel rooms, for $220 million. By the following year, Colony Credit Real Estate, whose predecessor NorthStar had provided a $255 million mortgage for the land, was looking to sell the mortgage for as little as $50 million. The hotel was forced to close temporarily in 2020 due to the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Werner began falling behind on mortgage payments in May 2020. Following an influx of
asylum seekers to New York City in mid-2022, city officials considered converting part of the Row NYC into temporary housing for 700 asylum seekers that year. The city government agreed that October to use the Row NYC Hotel to house migrants as part of an agreement valued at $40 million. In August 2025, the city government announced that the hotel would stop hosting migrants by April 2026, when the migrant shelter's lease expired. ==Critical reception==