QUEENS — A controversial 20-story hotel in Kew Gardens will be operated by Comfort Inn, employees said.
The 95,000-square-foot building, at 123-28 82nd Ave., across the street from Queens Borough Hall, opened in January as Hotel Louie after sitting vacant for months.
But earlier this week employees posted a Comfort Inn logo in the windows of an adjacent building which is part of the hotel complex.
“We are signing a franchise agreement with Comfort inn,” said Mickey Kumar, the hotel manager, adding that it will no longer be called Hotel Louie.
In addition to hotel rooms which are located on floors four through nine, the building also includes commercial space and 38 apartments for rent, according to documents filed with the Department of Buildings.
Kumar said that Comfort Inn will operate only the hotel portion of the building.
The apartments, which are above the hotel room floors, are now ready for tenants and monthly rents have been reduced since the building opened in January, Kumar said. Prices for one-bedroom units currently range from $2,000 to $2,500 a month and for two-bedrooms — from $3,200 to $3,700, he said.
The hotel was scheduled to open months ago as The Queens Savoy Hotel and Residences, the owners told DNAinfo New York in 2015. It was unclear why that deal fell apart.
The building was recently leased to a lessee whose identity Kumar declined to reveal.
Kumar also said that the adjacent building, at 124-18 Queens Blvd., will become a restaurant but it will probably be leased out to someone else. That building used to house popular eatery Pasta Lovers, until in 2008 its owners decided to build the hotel complex in the restaurant's parking lot.
Some local residents worried that the hotel would be used to house homeless families, similarly to a Comfort Inn in Ozone Park.
“This is obviously concerning,” said Andrea Crawford, a Kew Gardens resident and member of Community Board 9. “It’s next to an elementary school.”
Many local residents opposed the project from the beginning fearing it would bring more traffic, noise and parking problems to the area.
Choice Hotels International, which owns Comfort Inn, did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking comment.
