New Hotel Planned For Downtown, Illegal Airbnb Shut Down

Development firm Hello Living will be bringing a new 100-room hotel to 291 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

Owner Eli Karp purchased the property between Hanover Plaza and Nevins Street in March for $11.1 million and plans to build a 21-story structure with five hotel rooms per floor and a coffee shop on the ground level, The Real Deal reports.

This will be Hello Living’s first hotel project. The firm has been developing several rental buildings throughout Brooklyn over the years.

Over in DUMBO, a property owner is in trouble after city officials discovered illegally constructed Airbnb rentals built on top of a two-story manufacturing building.

Plymouth Realty Corporation was slapped with thousands of dollars in fines and ordered to shut down the five residential units constructed on the roof of 140 Plymouth Street, NY Daily News reports.

When officials went to investigate the illegal lodgings, they found “dangerous and unpermitted gas and electrical hookups” as well as tourists visiting from London, Minneapolis, and Massachusetts occupying three of the rooms.

The units consisted of one or two beds, a bathroom, and a small sitting area equipped with a television and a microwave. The Airbnb listings advertising the rooms were taken down after the Daily News contacted the host.

City officials ordered the property owner to vacate the rooftop units due to “imminent danger to life and public safety.” The illegal additions lacked the required fire exits and alarms and had two unauthorized gas lines installed.