444 E 149th Street, directly adjacent to The Opera House Hotel where Mexicozina Restaurant once thrived, was purchased by the owners of the Opera House Hotel last March for $500,000. (Sadly the beloved restaurant with the amazing space was displaced <aka gentrification > but at least they were able to stay in the neighborhood just 4 blocks away also on 149th Street near Lincoln Hospital).
Plans were filed last week for a 9 story, 31 room extension to the successful Opera House Hotel.
Back on August 2013 when the hotel opened, many were skeptical that a hotel would thrive in the area and feared that it would become just another homeless shelter, or drug and prostitution hotbed.
But occupancy determined that indeed there was a need and market for a hotel of this caliber in the South Bronx not just for tourists both domestic and international, but also for those visiting families in The Bronx—and yes, even Bronxites looking for a staycation.
Since the Opera House is a landmark building, it will be curious to see the renderings for their extension and if it will blend in with the original architecture or just another modern wing.
I guess all this hotel activity in the area will be able to accommodate the flock of tourists expected after The New York Times declared the South Bronx as One of 52 Places to Go in 2017. <insert sarcasm>
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