EAST VILLAGE — Hotelier Andre Balazs' new East Village incarnation of The Standard hotel hammered out a deal with neighbors Monday that will allow it to host private events on a rooftop terrace and boost the number of outdoor bar seats in exchange for earlier closing times.
The Standard East Village on East 5th Street and the Bowery had been asking for substantial changes to its existing bar areas and liquor license, including converting its terrace bar into a guest room available for private events and boosting the capacity in the ground-floor level cafe and bar to 74 seats.
Hotel officials, members of the East 5th Street Block Association and other residents came to an agreement hours before Monday night's Community Board 3 committee meeting, leading to an immediate thumbs-up from CB3's State Liquor Authority committee that deals with liquor licenses.
"The negotiations stayed on a friendly basis," said Stuart Zamsky of the East 5th Street Block Association. "It hurt both sides to give in on certain aspects."
Zamsky said the hotel agreed to limit its operating hours at its ground-floor outdoor bar and café, pushing its closing time forward from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m.
The Standard East Village also proposed to turn its first-level terrace, which currently operates as a bar, into a private guest suit that would hold private events, sparking concern by some in the community about noise.
"This was a sticking point as to whether events should be allowed there," said Zamsky.
The hotel agreed to only allow 12 events per year, and said it would impose an 8 p.m. closing time at the first-floor terrace, according to the agreement with residents.
Another area of concern for the hotel's neighbors was possible noise that could come from inside the building. A restaurant on the ground floor will add 21 more seats indoors, along with 56 more seats once the hotel converts more than half its outdoor garden space on the ground floor into lobby, bar and restaurant space.
The wall of the Standard East Village is very close to a wall of tenement buildings with a narrow space in between. The space is large enough for a row of plants, which the hotel has agreed to install as a buffer between it and local residents.
"It is not like sound is going to travel through a common wall. They should keep their noise down," Zamsky said.
In the agreement, the Standard East Village accepted residents' request to place the hotel's speakers away from doors and not use subwoofers, among other restrictions.
The liquor license alterations will go before CB3's full board meeting on May 22.
Recommendations of community boards are not legally binding and the final decision to award or deny a liquor license rests with the State Liquor Authority.
The Standard East Village did not return a call for comment.
The Standard Hotel chain, which has a location in the Meatpacking District as well as in Los Angeles and Miami, purchased the 21-story East Village building toward the end of 2011. The building formerly operated as the Cooper Square Hotel.
