By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — The Ace Hotel is welcome to keep serving up cocktails to its well-heeled customers, a committee of Midtown's Community Board 5 voted Wednesday.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend renewing the trendy Flatiron District hotel's liquor licenses after its management agreed to appease community concerns about noise, long lines and late-night crowds by hiring extra security and limiting its lower-level space to private parties.
For months, some residents near the West 29th Street hotel have complained of club-like events in the hotel's lower level Liberty Hall, which was supposed to be reserved for private events.
"I haven't seen a public response like this [before]," board member Alan Miles reported to the board.
Joseph Smith, 55, who has lived half a block from the hotel for the past 18 years, said he likes the amenities the hotel has introduced to the quiet residential neighborhood, including new restaurants and the popular Stumptown Coffee Roasters, whose coffee earned his rave reviews.
But, he said the hotel has also become a "victim of their own success."
He complained of large crowds and velvet ropes used to steer waiting patrons into the extremely popular Lobby Bar.
"It becomes difficult just to get down the street," he fretted.
Calvin Poon, who lives directly across the street from Ace, said the noise problems typically begin around 10 p.m. and get so loud he can hear patrons talking from inside his apartment. Sometimes the sound wakes him up while he sleeps.
"I can hear them screaming [at the top of] their lungs in the middle of the night," he said.
To help address residents' concerns, the hotel agreed to hire two new security guards and an extra staffer to man the doors. In addition, they agreed to discontinue holding events in the basement space that gave the appearance that it was being operated as an upscale club, earning the committee's unanimous support.
The full board will weigh in on the recommendation at its monthly meeting on April 14.
