The Parker is a 42-story hotel building with 729 rooms, located at 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan, near Central Park. The hotel houses five restaurants, five retailers, a gym, and a spa, as of January 2019. One of the hotel's restaurants is Burger Joint, a "speakeasy-style burger hut" behind the hotel's lobby curtain. The restaurant opened in 2002 and has since expanded to other locations. Burger Joint was ranked number two in Eater New York list of the "27 Top Burgers in NYC". People often queue in the restaurant's entrance corridor, which is marked by a simple neon sign of a hamburger.
History
The original developer of Le Parker Meridien was the Jack Parker Corporation, which ran the hotel as part of Air France's Le Méridien hotel chain. In 1979, the New York City Department of City Planning gave Parker permission to construct a 40-story building, eight floors past the 32-story maximum for a building with that lot area, provided that the corporation add a public atrium. The atrium seating was removed in 1990, and subsequently restored after a "high-profile" campaign by the New York City Department of Buildings. Under the Parker Corporation's management, Le Parker Meridien was one of the few luxury hotels in the city that accommodated wild animals as guests. In 2012, the hotel's coffee bar was flooded with concrete following a construction accident at a neighboring building. By 2016, Jack Parker Corporation wanted to sell Le Parker Meridien. GFI Capital Resources Group and Elliott Management Corporation purchased the hotel for approximately $420 million in 2019. The companies plant to invest an additional $100 million to renovate some of the rooms and convert others to private residences. The renovation is slated to start in 2020, and according to The Wall Street Journal, "will be relaunched as a flagship of Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s Thompson Hotel brand in 2021". Commercial Observer and Habitat have reported on the planned addition of 67 luxury condos to be built on top of the exiting structure.
Reception
Douglas Rogers of The Daily Telegraph rated the hotel 8 out of 10 and summarized, "At first glance this Midtown hotel seems like a nondescript commercial tower block, but once inside a myriad of resort-like treats await. Aside from sprawling guest rooms there's a barbershop, makeup salon, spa, rooftop pool and – the ultimate gem – world famous Burger Joint." Parker New York ranked number 118 on U.S. News & World Report list of "Best New York City Hotels". Jessica Colley Clarke of Fodor's rated Le Parker Meridien as 4.5 out of 5 stars, and Frommer's rated Parker New York 2 out of 3 stars. The Evening Standard Lauren Keary included the Parker in her list of "best pools in NYC". Lorna Parkes of The Independent described the hotel as "a Hyatt with subtle style" and a "secret burger joint". The Daily Telegraph Tracy Kaler included the Parker in her 2020 list of "8 fabulous family-friendly hotels in New York".
