Check out this rendering of the Hoxton, a Williamsburg hotel

Eye On Real Estate

December 16, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Here's a rendering of the Hoxton, a hotel that's under construction on the former site of Rosenwach Tank Co.'s wood mill. Rendering courtesy of Ennismore

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Hark! A hotel. On Wythe Avenue.

That’s a refrain we’ve heard many times.

In this instance, though, it’s worth hearing again because the developer of the Hoxton has graciously given us a nifty rendering. Take a look.

The Hoxton is a British hotel that’s being built at 97 Wythe Ave. Construction is just getting underway there. Bulldozers and such are busily digging in the dirt.

The site belonged for many decades to Rosenwach Tank Co., the 150-year-old company that makes the wood water tanks that are New York City skyline icons.

In late December 2012, Rosenwach’s JWH Real Estate Holding Corp. sold the site for $10 million. It had been a wood mill, and used the address 87 N. 9th St.

The buyer was Sydell Freehand Williamsburg LLC with Joshua Babbitt as vice president, city Finance Department records show. His firm, the Sydell Group, is a hotel owner, developer and manager with offices in New York, London and Los Angeles.

The London connection is relevant. In August 2013, Sydell sold the site for $17 million to 93-97 Wythe Avenue LP at 81 Great Eastern St., London. That’s one of the addresses of the Hoxton, a hotel brand that London-based developer Ennismore is expanding.

The purchaser also paid $2.65 million for air rights from contiguous property 93 N. 9th St., which belongs to an LLC with Joseph Brunner as an authorized member, Finance Department records indicate.

This past October, the city Buildings Department gave partial approval to a development plan for the Hoxton’s Wythe Avenue project. It will be nine stories tall and have 175 rooms. The Sydell Group is serving as the owner’s rep for the development — Babbitt, the Sydell executive, is identified in Buildings Department documents as the development’s authorized signatory.