A few years back when I first learned that yet ANOTHER W Hotel was to be built in NYC – downtown, across the street from my favorite restaurant (Roys), I thought it was a great addition to the area. The Downtown area has a fair amount of hotels – but they are mainly staid and boring. The W and the opening of the Andaz on Wall Street later this year will liven up the area a bit.

Earlier this week the developer Joseph Moinian was quoted in the NY Post about “how soft of an opening” the W will have – instead of “how large”. The big hulking Deutsche Bank building that was damaged in the WTC attacks still remains and is still being taken down – very very very slowly. Originally when the plans to build the hotel were envisioned the Deutsche Bank building was to be completely removed, so it wasn’t going to be an issue, but now its still there and looks even worse because its enveloped by screens to prevent debris from falling down, and when you look through the screens you see boarded up windows and sometimes no windows at all.

I think that Moinian and Starwood have a little more to worry about than just the Deutsche Bank building next door – access to the hotel is very very difficult and confusing. When I originally took a trip down there to view the site a few years ago – it was almost impossible to get too. Since its located a block away from the WTC site – its an unbelievable location, great for business travelers who are meeting in the financial district or one of the buildings being developed – but until then its a horrible location which may cause alot of pain and unhappiness for both the owners and guests.

Heres what I’ve experienced almost every time that i’ve been to the site since the building was first announced – including my latest visit last week.. The street signs for Albany St which leads to Washington Street are obscured because of all the construction activity, and Albany and Greenwich St usually look like they are blocked off with all the barricades, scaffolding etc. That’s if you can even figure out those are the streets you need to go on in order to get to Washington St! The most logical way to access Washington is via Liberty St – previously a two way road, but has since been completely blocked off due to construction activity at the WTC and the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building.

View Larger Map

Even when the Deutsche Bank building is finally removed, some scaffolding and barricades will be removed – but access to the site will not be made any better until the entire WTC development is pretty much finished – and that may not happen for another 10 years – perhaps longer with the economic recession we’re in.

I’m not expecting the W New York Downtown to fail – its success is almost assured because almost all of the condos have been sold, and it is a W, people will go to this hotel vs the Marriott across the street if only because its a much more nicer designed hotel.

I’m really curious to see how the hotel will pan out – if there will be special signs or procedures that will be implemented to get guests onto the site via an easier way until this whole construction mess gets solved.