Atelier Ace Debuts Sister City Hotel with Efficient Rooms and Grade-School Style
After months of wondering what was going on at the back of Freeman Alley, New Yorkers now have an answer: Atelier Ace has opened the space as its latest hotel concept, Sister City. The new venture leaves behind the big prints, buzzy lobbies, and brass finishes the company's Ace Hotels have become known for in favor of a more pared-down version at a more affordable price point (the rooms start at $250 a night).
With a dash of both Japanese and Scandinavian influences, the design seems to reference a grade school. Guests will notice the beige and white color-blocked hallways, glossed terrazzo flooring, and communal water fountains in the corridors. Even ribbed, opaque glass panels separate rooms in some sections of the lobby. The ground-level restaurant, Floret, fittingly features midcentury wood chairs sourced from a former primary school in Germany. The only difference here is that guests leave rooms with their key cards instead of a hall pass.
Throughout the hotel, muted tones in green, brown, and red cover everything from modern furniture to stained-glass skylights. While plenty of Sister City’s neighbors make the most of the happening Lower East Side neighborhood (Vandal and the Edition are nearby), the hotel aims to be a respite from the bars, clubs, and concert venues in the area with a more relaxed setting.
Joining a growing microhotel trend in the city, seen at properties like the Moxy Times Square, Hoxton in Williamsburg, and and a handful of Arlo properties, the design makes the most of the compact size of the guest rooms (rooms range from 120 to 170 square feet). Bathrooms are compact and practical. Clothing racks, custom-fashioned by the Atelier Ace team, fold off the wall. While more spacious rooms feature shared balcony spaces and Noguchi paper lamps above the beds, other rooms include queen-sized bunk beds for those traveling in groups and looking to conserve space (and money) during their stay.
Other items found in traditional hotel rooms, like ironing boards or extra towels, are brought to communal closets on each floor, accessible by any guest, next to water fountains ready to fill each room's glass carafe.
While the hotel is tucked away down a discreet alley, the new space makes its presence clear with an entrance along Bowery that leads guests either into the lobby's self-service check-in counters, or to a service elevator that goes directly to the rooftop bar, Last Light.
