Here's a look at the best new venues in New York to open this winter with options for cocktail receptions, business dinners, conferences, and corporate entertaining. These venues can accommodate meetings and events large or small with conference rooms, ballrooms, dance floors, DJs, private rooms, and more.
1. Museum of Mathematics
Museum of Mathematics, an institution dedicated to the science of numbers and patterns, opened December 15. The 19,000-square-foot venue occupies two levels of a building at the north end of Madison Square Park and offers permanent exhibit space as well as classroom space available for private events.
Rendering: Courtesy of Museum of Mathematics
2. Skylight at Moynihan
Across from Penn Station, the Skylight Group operates Skylight at Moynihan Station, a suite of event spaces inside the century-old James A. Farley Post Office Building designed by McKim, Mead & White. Available are the mail sorting room, a 41,000-square-foot space with a black tiled floor and domed ceiling, and the 33,000-square-foot postal dock, an industrial steel and glass atrium with two drive-in access points.
Photo: Diana Bezanski
3. Affinia Manhattan
Affinia Manhattan wraps up a renovation to its conference center this month, part of a $15 million hotel renovation that started in November 2010. The meetings space will have its own entrance and elevator. The final touch, a new hotel lobby, should be ready in March. The hotel's nine meeting rooms include the 12-person Rockefeller boardroom to the 325-person Fitzgerald ballroom.
Rendering: Courtesy of Affinia Manhattan
4. The Windsor
A new upscale sports bar inside the Gansevoort Park Avenue, the Windsor opened December 13. The space can accommodate 74 and is available for private events, including seated parties served à la carte and large events with an open bar and passed food.
Photo: Melissa Hom
5. Quin Hotel
Highgate Hotels is expected to open its latest property, the Quin, in March 2013. The site, the renamed and redesigned Buckingham Hotel, offers 200 rooms, including suites dedicated to artist Georgia O'Keeffe and pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Also on site are a permanent art gallery, a spa partnership with LVMH-owned Fresh, and an in-house restaurant.
Rendering: Perkins Eastman
6. Harding's
Harding's, a restaurant serving American comfort food, opened at the Flatiron district in November. Available for buyouts, the restaurant can receive as many as 200 guests. Other spaces available for private events are the den and mezzanine, each accommodating 16 guests, while the dining room and cocktail lounge have a capacity of 80.
Photo: Michael Covino
7. 545
Located in the Chelsea arts district, 545 is a column-free 5,000-square-foot independent event venue. The raw space is available for single-day or multi-week rentals and can house a variety of events from pop-up shops to product launches.
Photo: John Reilly
8. Jade Hotel
Gemini Real Estate Advisors recently opened the Jade Hotel, a 113-room property in Union Square. With interiors designed by Andres Escobar, the hotel has ebony wood and marble accents as well as an in-house restaurant from Frederick Lesort called Grapevine.
Photo: Lev Kuperman
9. TKP New York Conference Center
Opening in March, TKP New York offers 32,000 square feet of meeting space in 12 rooms. The largest space, the 4,872-square-foot Empire ballroom, holds 334 theater-style of 224 for banquets. A series of smaller rooms include the Manhattan room hosting 150 for reception and the East Village room seating 80 for banquets.
Rendering: Courtesy of TKP New York
10. Toshi's Living Room and Penthouse
Toshi's Living Room and Penthouse is a bilevel event space. The 4,000-square-foot Living Room can host 600 for a cocktail reception, while the 3,700-square-foot Penthouse accommodates 400. During cold months, the roof terrace can be tented and heated.
Photo: Courtesy of Toshi’s Living Room and Penthouse
