Firmdale dons Green mantle for luxury New York hotel debut

Firmdale Hotels, the group behind London’s Haymarket Hotel and Charlotte Street Hotel, has claimed its forthcoming string of luxury five-star New York establishments will be the ‘Greenest in the city’.

The group is hoping to win gold Leed status – a rating awarded by the US Green Building Council – for its Crosby Street Hotel. It will be the group’s first hotel in New York, entering a market home to celebrity hotelier Ian Schrager’s much lauded Gramercy Park Hotel, as well as The Mercer, Soho House and Chambers.

Founders Tim and Kit Kemp are leading the design of the hotel, in conjunction with architect Stonehill & Taylor Associates. It is set to open at the end of 2008.

A spokeswoman for the group says that the hotel’s mechanical systems will be specially designed to reach the standard required by the New York Energy Code, while all materials will be sourced locally to reduce its carbon footprint.

Located in New York’s Soho district, the hotel will be built over eight floors. Around 75 rooms and suites, featuring wall-to-ceiling warehouse-style windows, will receive Kemp’s bespoke treatment.

The Crosby Street Hotel will also house a restaurant and bar, a roof garden, guest drawing room and a gym, as well as private event rooms and a 100-seat screening theatre.