- For the former Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, see The Fairmont Hotel New Orleans; for hotels with a similar name, see Hotel Roosevelt (disambiguation)
The Roosevelt Hotel is a hotel situated on Madison Avenue and 45th Street in midtown Manhattan, named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The New York City hotel opened September 22, 1924. The hotel closed in 1995 and reopened in 1997 after a $65-million extensive renovation.
It is managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts and owned by Pakistan International Airlines.
Guest rooms
There are a total of 1,015 rooms in the hotel, including 52 suites, one of which (the Presidential Suite) has 3900 square feet with four bedrooms, a kitchen, formal living and dining areas, and a wrap-around terrace.The rooms are traditionally decorated, with mahogany wood furniture and light-colored bed coverings.
Facilities and services
The "Roosevelt Grill" serves American food and regional specialties for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The "Madison Club Lounge" has a 30-foot mahogany bar, stained glass windows and a pair of fireplaces. There is also a cafe (Ferraras Cafe).The Roosevelt has 30,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including two ballrooms and 17 additional meeting rooms ranging in size from 300 – 1100 sq. feet. It offers a business center which provides Internet access, fax services, secretarial services, copy services and shipping services.
Other services include a concierge, a 24-hour fitness center, safety deposit boxes, valet laundry, valet or self-parking, and 15 retail tenants, including a Bostonian Shoes.
History
The Roosevelt Hotel was at one time linked with Grand Central Station by way of an underground passage that connected the hotel to the train terminal.Guy Lombardo performed “Auld Lang Syne” for the first time in the hotel’s Roosevelt Grill, and Lawrence Welk began his career at the Roosevelt Hotel.
From 1943 to 1955 the Roosevelt Hotel served as the New York City office and residence of Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey's primary residence was his farm in upstate New York, but he used Suite 1527 in the Roosevelt to conduct most of his official business in the city. In the famous 1948 presidential election, Dewey, his family, and staff listened to the election returns in Suite 1527 of the Roosevelt; in the election Dewey lost to incumbent President Harry Truman in one of the greatest political upsets in American history.
Since the 1960s, the hotel has been partly-owned by the Pakistan International Airlines through its investment arm PIA Investments Ltd. For some time, PIA shared the ownership in a partnership with Prince Faisal bin Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. In 2005, PIA bought out its partner in a deal that included the prince's share in Hotel Scribe in Paris in exchange for $40 million and PIA's share of the Riyadh Minhal Hotel (a Holiday Inn located on property owned by the prince).
After a major $65 million renovation, in July 2007 PIA announced that it was putting the hotel up for sale for US $1 billion. It was reported that the property would be marketed by New York-based real estate company Cushman & Wakefield.
Appearance in films
The Roosevelt Hotel has been seen in several major motion pictures, including The French Connection, Hanky Panky, Quiz Show, Boiler Room, Maid in Manhattan and 1408.Notes
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday June 09, 2008 at 22:27:35 PDT (GMT -0700)
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