Photography by The Standard New York

After roughly two years of construction in one of the more desolate stretches of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, the highly anticipated Standard New York is finally pulling back its doors this December — well, sort of. For its soft opening, this latest and most ambitious addition to hotelier André Balazs’ über-sleek suite of Standard hotels will book a limited number of rooms for guests eager to check out what all the fuss is about. In fact, the hotel won’t really have a hard opening so much as a gradual unveiling of different sections as they’re finished — including a restaurant adjacent to the lobby and a bar/lounge on the top floor. The completion date for everything is set for sometime next spring.
However it opens, the Standard will inject a much-needed dose of style and bustle into the neighborhood, which has become littered with sub-standard destinations of late. The eighteen-floor, 335-room hotel is a bold addition to the Westside skyline, consisting of two semi-separate pieces set at an angle and supported by a series of strategically placed columns. Half of the hotel literally straddles the soon-to-be-revitalized High Line, making it perhaps the most dramatic High Line-related architecture we’ve seen yet. And although it doesn’t yet connect to the High Line (special permits are required), reps for the hotel don’t discount the possibility.