Overbuilt ‘Orchard Street Hotel’ Again Seeks Booze in Saturated Hell Square

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For the second time in as many years, hotel operators Nico Moinian and Nader Ohebshalom will try again to install nightlife at the Orchard Street Hotel. As before, it’s an uphill battle in Hell Square that won’t be easy.

The lodge opened at 163 Orchard last year, yet without the food and beverage component on which profit margins are bolstered. There’s history. Moinian appeared before Community Board 3 back in September 2014 for full liquor privileges, but he crashed and burned, as it were. Largely due to the fact that NYS Alcohol Beverage Control Law states that a hotel without a restaurant and full kitchen onsite cannot apply for a hotel license.

So now, two years later, they’re going for a tavern beer-wine license.

However, this structure still has two unavoidable achilles heels: the second floor arcade and the fact that they’re basically a hostel targeting the underage set. As we’ve chronicled, floor two must remain unenclosed, otherwise the additional floor area would render the structure overbuilt. Hence that bullshit “protective membrane.” It is in this space that, once again, the operators plan to install the bar.

The updated application with CB3 calls for twenty tables, bar, and occupancy of fifty. Proposed hours of operation are 5pm to midnight all days. Most alarming, though, is the entertainment level music proposed for the quasi-open spot.

Moinian and Ohebshalom were scheduled to appear before CB3 tonight, but were a last-minute scratch. The second time since June.

As a post-script, it’s also worth mentioning that Moinian’s father, clothing merchant and real estate tycoon, Morris Moinian, purchased the long-stalled Allen Street Hotel just down the block back in May. And Ohebshalom is reportedly owner of the Redford that took over Comfort Inn on Ludlow.

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