The Four Seasons is finally set to reopen after Beanie Babies inventor and owner Ty Warner and the hotel’s management company reportedly resolved a multiyear fight over profitability and fees. According to the New York Post, the Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts brand, which manages the property, and Warner, who owns the building, have agreed to sell 50 of the 368 rooms as residential apartments to offset the fees involved in upkeep.
Like much of the rest of the city, the Four Seasons shut down during the pandemic, except it never actually reopened. Per the Post, Warner, a billionaire, had long been upset that the hotel was losing money and wanted to change the fee structure set by the management company to instead tie fees to profitability. Further complicating matters, employees laid off because of the pandemic sued Warner and the brand, claiming that they were delaying the opening to deprive them of wages and severance. (Last year, the union was fighting for their workers to be hired back if the hotel reopened.) “At this point, only an agreement with the union is still required to open Four Seasons New York,” Warner told the Post last summer, “which I’m optimistic will be coming soon.”
Apparently, the Beanie Babies tycoon was soothed by the idea of apartment conversions. A source told the Post that the “hefty” maintenance fees that full-time residents will pay would help offset the hotel’s operating costs, which doesn’t seem like great marketing to potential buyers. Either way, the hotel is supposed to reopen in September, but it’s unclear when — and which rooms will be put up for sale.
