The northwest corner of 28th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan has hosted many ventures in its long history. Once a Gilded Age family home, it was torn down to make way for a bank featuring a separate “ladies entrance” for the discreet transactions of female clients; more recently, it’s been an office building housing everything from the International Silk Guild to the publisher of science periodicals. Soon, 250 Fifth Avenue, which has undergone a seven-year, $200 million restoration, will reopen as the brand-new 153-room Fifth Avenue Hotel this summer.

“It’s highly emotional and highly romantic,” 31-year-old owner Alex Ohebshalom says of his NoMad passion project, whose ornate interiors were updated by maximalist designer Martin Brudnizki. Suites are swathed in jewel tones and soft velvets; Murano chandeliers hang from the ceilings. A ballroom will serve as the setting for weddings and tea ceremonies, and old bank vaults will double as wine cellars. “We imagined an eclectic collection of objects, art, and furnishings,” says Brudnizki, and the whole project is infused with the peripatetic spirit of the flâneur—Baudelaire’s cosmopolitan wanderer serves as an imaginative touchstone. The eccentric homes of Stanford White—one of the bank’s original architects—was an inspiration as well; White’s great-great-granddaughter even helped Ohebshalom and Brudnizki go through his archives. “We want something that will be iconic in New York and regarded internationally,” Ohebshalom says.

International regard is something New York has never lacked, though it might have flagged during the dark days of the pandemic. (“New York City is dead forever,” proclaimed a 2020 headline in the New York Post; one account found New York’s tourism industry lost 89,000 jobs in 2020.) But reports of the Big Apple’s demise appear greatly exaggerated. This winter and spring, a number of new hotels will welcome visitors. The Ritz-Carlton is opening a new property, built from the ground up and in one of the neighborhoods tallest buildings. Rooms offer sweeping views of the Empire State Building for those facing uptown or the Statue of Liberty downtown. Michelin-starred chef José Andres will helm the hotel’s lounge, in-room dining, and rooftop bar, where guests can drink 500 feet in the air. Also joining the neighborhood? London-based member’s club and hotel The Ned, which will take over the former NoMad hotel. 

TriBeCa is readying for The Warren Street Hotel (from the group behind Soho’s Crosby) and Hotel Barrière Le Fouquet’s, a Paris and St. Barth’s favorite, has plans to open sometime in 2022. They plan to bring the French art de vivre to the historic district with a state of the art Cannes screening room and rooftop terrace.

Midtown recently welcomed Park Lane, complete with Yabu Pushelberg furniture, and the glamorous Aman will open on 57th Street in coming months. (Their jazz club is sure to be a destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike.) Meanwhile, The Theater District sees the arrival of the luxurious Civilian, and The Ace just opened another buzzy outpost in Brooklyn. To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, New York is nothing if not hopeful.