New York’s Moxy Chelsea
Rising 35 stories high into the New York City skyline, Moxy NYC Chelsea, the micro-room, macro-amenity hotel, developed by Lightstone and part of Marriott International’s experiential Moxy Hotels brand, officially opens its doors today. Inspired by the surrounding Flower District, the hotel blends a botanically-influenced design with Italian romance and a touch of playful wit – perfectly timed to welcome guests on Valentine’s Day.
Creating an environment that appeals to both today’s modern traveller and locals, Moxy Chelsea was developed with a collection of public spaces designed to meet the community’s dining, drinking, and co-working needs—while providing guests access to New York City at a neighborhood level. The 349-room hotel marks the second collaboration between Yabu Pushelberg, Rockwell Group, and architects Stonehill Taylor, the designers behind Moxy Times Square and three of the industry’s most admired firms.
The newly-constructed building’s architecture riffs off the neighbourhood’s retro-industrial style and feels harmonious with its location, in the heart of the Chelsea Flower Market. The hotel blends into the lush flower shops that surround it, with a soaring three-story glass atrium revealing the vertical gardens within. Guests enter through the overgrown Putnam & Putnam Flower Shop, designed by Yabu Pushelberg, which is envisioned as a “botanical library,” with planter boxes suspended from the 15-foot wall, reachable by a wheeled ladder. The shop is run by husbands Darroch and Michael Putnam, whose couture approach to floral arrangements over the years has made them a staple at celebrity weddings, including the recent nuptials of Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk. Just beyond the flower shop, a bright yellow neon sign spelling out the words “MEET” and “GREET” beckons guests into Moxy’s take on the check-in area. Four butcher blocks, alluding to the nearby Meatpacking District, are dramatically suspended from the 12-foot ceiling above, acting as check-in kiosks. Members of Marriott’s recently renamed Loyalty program, Marriott Bonvoy; replacing Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards; can also access keyless entry through the Marriott Mobile App. Just beyond check-in is the Moxy Digital Guestbook streaming videos and images taken within Moxy hotels or tagged #atthemoxy for visitors’ pre-elevator amusement.
The bedrooms are drenched in sunlight and feature floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows. For the design, Yabu Pushelberg replicates the clever functionality they created for Moxy Times Square, leavened with wit and humanized with a sense of craft. In all three room types — King, Double/Double and Quad Bunk — the furniture, which includes a writing desk and chair/luggage rack, can be folded up and hung up on Moxy’s signature peg wall when not in use. Other space-saving gambits include under-bed storage and a lava-stone sink and vanity area placed outside the bathroom. Tiles in the shower stalls are printed with cheeky phrases like “SOME REGRETS” and “WILD THING,” while a bulldog-shaped beer bottle opener hangs on the door. Additional bedroom features nod to the Flower District, like reading lamps that resemble garden lanterns and faucets that recall hose reels. Unique to Moxy Chelsea is the over-the-top MONDO Suite, an entertainment suite located on the 32nd floor. With soaring, double-height 18-foot ceilings and a wall of industrial-style windows looking out onto the Empire State Building, the room is equipped for entertaining and socializing. The suite can be combined with one or two adjoining king rooms to create a place to party and sleep.
Dining and Drinking Concepts for Guests and Locals Alike
Lightstone teamed up with Francesco Panella, owner of Antica Pesa, the legendary trattoria in Rome and its celeb-favourite counterpart in Brooklyn, and TAO Group to create new dining and drinking concepts for Moxy Chelsea that will appeal to guests and locals alike—Feroce Ristorante, Feroce Caffè, and Bar Feroce. The menu at Feroce Ristorante embraces both traditional dishes and modern interpretations utilizing ingredients from historic brands and small producers across Italy, as well as local purveyors in New York. In front of the restaurant is Feroce Caffè, with glass aeroplane hangar-style doors that can be raised all the way up, opening the space entirely to the sidewalk, as in Italy. It also features a vintage doughnut machine that wafts tempting aromas onto the sidewalk, luring locals in off the street. The hotel entrance has its own dedicated window counter connecting to the caffè, so guests can pick up fresh-baked doughnuts and coffee as they come and go.
Panella also created the menu at Bar Feroce, an Italian snack bar and lounge offering a modern twist on traditional Roman comfort dishes, oven-fired pizzas, and classic cocktails. On Bar Feroce’s all-season, alfresco garden terrace, The Backyard, a terra cotta oven turns out gourmet Roman-style pizzas and features a made-for-Moxy bocce drinking game.
