The owner of one large New York hotel said that based on his conversations with Cuomo’s office, hotels are not ideally suited for use as intensive care units, but could work for patients with less acute conditions. The state is assessing virtually every hotel in Manhattan, said the owner, who asked not to be named because the matter was private.
Housing doctors and nurses is much easier. Earlier this week, a hotel trade group identified 6,500 U.S. hotels that could be used for emergency responders.
Billionaire Ty Warner, best known as the maker of Beanie Babies, said in a statement on Wednesday that he volunteered his property near Central Park after hearing Cuomo speak at a recent press briefing. Warner, founder and chairman of Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, is offering the 330-room hotel, designed by I.M. Pei, to the state free of charge.
The hotel closed Friday, and is not taking reservations until April 15. Government officials, medical groups and the hotel’s management were working out details like how to staff the hotel, what types of sanitary guidelines to follow, and who will stay at the property.
“If he could wave a magic wand, it would have happened already,” Greg Scandaglia, an attorney who represents Warner, said in an interview Wednesday.
--With assistance from Nikki Ekstein, Martin Z. Braun and Keshia Cluk
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.