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Neighbors press Broom Street Hotel on courtyard noise, ask for sound study after alteration filing
Summary
Owners of the Broom Street Hotel told Community Board 2 they plan an alteration to license the hotel’s entire ground floor and move a bar forward into the lobby; neighbors warned that the open courtyard, shared fire escape and lack of an acoustical study make the proposal premature.
The Community Board 2 licensing committee heard detailed testimony about an alteration application for the Broom Street Hotel that would expand a wine license to cover the hotel’s entire ground floor and reposition a bar from the rear courtyard area into the lobby.
Phil Doer, an attorney representing the hotel’s principals, said the change is an alteration of the licensed footprint: the hotel is adding a full commercial kitchen in the back and wants the ground floor licensed in order to operate two public spaces in line with that work. Doer told the board that the hotel liquor license itself is still pending before the state liquor authority and that the alteration was being pursued now so construction could proceed while the larger hotel license might take months to resolve.
But neighbors who said they live in buildings that share walls, a fire escape or sightlines with the hotel pressed for more information about sound mitigation, pergola design and egress. "We're very familiar with the noise that emanates from the open courtyard uses in the space. It is very problematic," said Laura Tenenbaum, who told the board she tracks neighborhood demographics and outreach on the application. Owner‑occupant and artist David Novros said he and his wife were repeatedly forced to call police when the space was previously used as an open garden, and he urged the board to require a proper acoustical analysis and clearer limits on events and hours.
Several residents described a shared fire escape, skylights and narrow alleyways that they said would amplify sound from a courtyard or rooftop; a neighbor said the hotel’s past activity included weekend parties that required police response and broke skylights. Residents also questioned whether the proposed kitchen would be a full hot kitchen or a small convection setup, and whether customers could “walk in off the street” to use the hotel as a bar.
Doer said the proposed change to the ground‑floor footprint does not itself change hours and that the hotel would present the separate hotel liquor license application to the board next month, offering more time for outreach and for an acoustical study to be prepared and circulated. He said the alteration is legally necessary for the owner to proceed with construction now; once a hotel liquor license issues, the hotel plans to surrender the existing license under the wine‑only footprint.
Board members and neighbors asked the applicants to supply stamped floor plans, a full narrative of the ventilation and kitchen plans, an acoustical study and clear outreach to adjoining owners. The applicant told the committee he would return with the requested documentation and that the team had amended the municipal notice and would reappear with the hotel liquor license materials for a fuller review.
What’s next: The committee asked the hotel to provide an acoustical report, stamped and dated floor plans, and evidence of direct outreach to adjacent property owners before the matter returns to the committee.
