See Jane Sleep

Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode restore 200-Room Waterfront Hotel and finally bring affordable housing to New York, if only for a night. These cheap sleeps are available in the highly coveted West Village, where prime real estate lives. Bless them!           

In 1912, the building sheltered survivors of the Titanic. It became a sailors’ haven in the 1920s. And in recent years, the storied 1907 waterfront building became a quirky “residential hotel.”
 
Now, following a personal restoration by hospitality veterans Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode, 113 Jane St. in Manhattan’s Far West Village is about to get a new life as The Jane-a unique 200-room micro hotel for young travelers with more dash than cash.
 
“We hope to make The Jane the type of hotel I would have stayed when I first came to New York 25 years ago,” says MacPherson, whose current portfolio with Goode includes New York’s Bowery and Maritime Hotels and the Waverly Inn restaurant. 
 
“In the ‘80s you would find both character and characters in these eccentric hotels like the Chelsea or the old Windsor Arms,” MacPherson says. “So many young people have a romanticized notion of bohemia New York, but have trouble finding it these days. Virtually all new Manhattan hotels seem to be versions of each other, high-end design palaces. By restoring the landmark hotel, rather than renovating it, we hope to resurrect an authentic slice of idiosyncratic New York, bathrooms down the hall, long-term tenants and all.”
 
The Jane unveiled a select block of preview rooms in late-August, and will open in stages throughout the fall. For 150 rooms measuring about 50 sq. ft., rates will start at $99 with communal bathrooms down the hall. For slightly higher rates, 50 rooms measuring at 250 sq. ft. will feature private bathrooms, many of which include unobstructed river views.
 
Balancing the efficiency of a pod hotel with the lived-in character of a hostel, MacPherson and Goode, in characteristic style are overseeing every detail of rooms and public areas, from hand-picked artwork to original wallpaper designs to furniture and fixtures.  Inspired by luxury train cabins, rooms use smart design to pack maximum conveniences into minimal space; each “cabin” will come standard with air conditioning, fan, rails with coat-hooks, and a compact twin bed with built-in drawers and upper/lower storage space. All rooms will feature free high-speed internet access and 23” flat-screen LCD televisions.
 
Since “cabin” rooms will be too small for gatherings, guests will get to know each other in hallways, in the European-style communal bathrooms, or in the lobby, which MacPherson and Goode are restoring to its former grandeur.  Once a ballroom, the lobby until 2005 functioned as the gritty Jane Street Theater, birthplace of the legendary rock musical “Hedwig and The Angry Inch.”
 
A terrace with French doors will replace a wall of windows facing north, opening the lobby to allow even more comings and goings. “It’ll feel like a giant living room. Considering the size of the rooms, it’s probably where a lot of guests will get to meet other guests,” MacPherson says. The lobby will also host a complimentary continental breakfast every morning.
 
The basement’s original hand-tiled swimming pool and bathing area will be restored and equipped with a sauna and bathrooms, giving guests a peaceful area to mingle and relax.
 
Landmarked by New York City in 2001, the six-story structure was designed by William A. Boring, the architect behind the immigrant stations at Ellis Island. Its serene waterfront location places it within walking distance to the shopping, dining, and nightlife of the Meatpacking District, as well as to the West Village and Chelsea, both vibrant neighborhoods where locals and tourists mix.  
 
With their personal and idiosyncratic restoration of the landmark building, MacPherson and Goode are returning it to its roots as a haven for travelers. In 1912, the building gained fame when – as the American Seaman’s Friends Society and Sailors’ Home and Institute — it sheltered the surviving crew of the Titanic, according to a 2001 story in The New York Times. Recently, the Times wrote, “this red lighthouse of a building in Greenwich Village… is a rare reminder that the Hudson River waterfront once swelled with ships and sailors.”

For more info: www.thejanenyc.com