These days, it seems like you can't read about a new hotel without also hearing about the "sweeping views" and "lively atmosphere" at the ultra trendy rooftop bar.
But when did these bars with a view become so popular?
"In the span of a few short years, rooftop bars have become one of the hottest and most impactful hotel amenity trends in the industry," writes Robert Habeeb in Hotel News Now.
According to Habeeb, the president and CEO of First Hospitality Group, a hospitality management and development company, rooftop bars can be incredibly profitable.
"...the beverage-to-food mix is slanted so much toward beverage that a busy rooftop bar can be an enormously effective revenue-generating entity."
While the savviest of developers understand the importance of including a rooftop bar in their development plans, an increasing number of developers are also meeting with strong push back from residents and neighborhood groups in the communities where they plan to develop.
In New York City, residents in the Williamsburg neighborhood are fighting back against a proposed Pod Brooklyn Hotel, which they claim will turn the neighborhood into an "open air toilet" if hoteliers get the bar they're pushing for
In this case, the hotel is being developed by a pair of hoteliers who have a somewhat notorious history of developing establishments that attract unruly patrons according to the website DNAInfo. In fact, the duo was previously denied a liquor license by the State Liquor Authority (SLA) because of that reputation. In particular, a third property, the Jane Hotel has racked up thousands of dollars in building code and health and safety fines, for unruly and noisy crowds, according to a spokesman for the SLA.
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Pod Hotels are not the only properties facing challenges in New York. Last year, DNA Info also reported on another project, the Delancey Street Holiday Inn, which continues to seek a proprietor interested in opening a bar on top of the property.
The inn is located near two residential buildings and the Suffolk Street Block Association, a local neighborhood association says they are concerned how potentially rowdy late night soirees and increased noise in the neighborhood could affect area residents.
After initial plans for a bar on top of the inn were announced, hundreds of residents signed a petition opposing the development. Many others turned up at an SLA hearing to voice opposition for the proposed liquor license. That application was voted down by the SLA, making way for a new application by a second operator. Neighborhood residents re-mobilized and now the second bid is also on hold.
Another neighborhood association is fighting a similar battle with the Kellogg Hotel project on Barrow Street. Developers for the 1898 building are hoping to create an upscale hotel with a requisite rooftop bar. Residents opposed to the development cite the problems faced by residents near The Jane Hotel. The Villager reports that the City's Landmarks Preservations Committee has shot down initial plans for the development of a hotel and bar and has asked developers to submit a new proposal.
Concerns about the potential for noise and public drunkenness are not limited to the residents of New York City.
In Hollywood, California, the proposed Tommie Hotel faces similar opposition from neighborhood groups. The eight-story hotel, which is expected to open just south of Hollywood Blvd next year, has been called an "over-dense, noise-generating nuisance hotel" and a "party hotel."
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Plans for the hotel were approved by the city, but two neighborhood groups filed appeals, stating that the property should undergo a "more extensive environmental review," according to Curbed Los Angeles. Among the issues, the groups argue that air quality could be affected by the diesel trucks needed to build the property, which could affect children at a nearby school.
The appeals for both groups have been denied by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission. Unless a new lawsuit emerges, the hotel is expected to open, rooftop bar intact, in 2018.
Neighborhood associations in nearby West Hollywood have also filed an appeal with respect to the addition of rooftop bar and at lifestyle property Palihouse. In this hotel, space already exists on the roof but no food or alcohol is currently served there. Proposed changes include the serving of food and alcohol until 10 p.m. as well as the playing of amplified music.
Palhouse currently has a waiver to conduct 12 special events per year, which the community group argues, "already detrimentally impacts the character and integrity of the neighborhood and generates significant noise impacts that are experienced throughout the surrounding buildings," according to Wehoville.
The West Hollywood City Council vote on the appeal was evenly split (2-2), which means the appeal was denied and plans for the new Palihouse rooftop bar may now proceed.
Opposition to rooftop bars is not an issue that's limited to major urban centers.
In Charleston, South Carolina, owners of The Dewberry Hotel faced a similar issue.
Nearly a year after the hotel opened, the owner applied to open a bar and event space on the roof. (A change from the originally proposed rooftop pool.) Although an attorney for the hotel presented a 30-minute case as to why the bar would not create too much of a disturbance, residents remained firmly opposed to the addition and took their case to the planning board. The board voted 4-1 against the development of the rooftop bar, according to the Post and Courier.
Said one area resident, "I can tell you that this is going to destroy the neighborhood,"
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