5. The Keller Hotel also sat abandoned for years
Located across from the Hudson River at 150 Barrow Street, the Keller Hotel was designed by Julius Munckwitz, an architect best known for designing the Central Park Boathouse. It was originally built in 1898 as the Knickerbocker Hotel, which catered to seamen and travelers aboard cargo and cruise ships. As the maritime industry began to falter, though, the hotel was registered as a home for itinerant seamen in 1935. It was converted to single-room occupancy housing in the 1980s, then a welfare hotel in the 1990s.
The Renaissance Revival-style building was designated a New York City Landmark in 2007 after remaining vacant for nine years. The Landmarks Preservation Commission threatened its owners in 2014, though, for failing to maintain it. But in 2017, Morris Adjmi Architects began to restore the facade and add a new story and cornice while keeping the iconic “Hotel” sign. In 2020, new permits for the site were filed by BKSK Architects to convert the hotel into condominiums.