
The first hotel is opening on this NYC island with a notorious past
CNN
The first hotel on Roosevelt Island is opening soon. Once home to a penitentiary and an asylum exposed for mistreating its patients, the island is about to welcome guests at Graduate Roosevelt Island, a trendy hotel attached to Cornell Tech's innovative new campus.
(CNN) — New York City's Roosevelt Island will soon receive hotel guests for the first time -- a new set of arrivals to a slim, mile and half long island in the East River with an eye-opening past and a high-tech future. The 224-room Graduate Roosevelt Island opens to guests on June 1. Sitting at the entrance of Cornell Tech's innovative new campus, the 18-story tower will be the Graduate brand's 29th property and its first in the city. "To be able to have a hotel in New York City still rooted to a campus, still rooted to a major university like Cornell ... and really what is supposed to be the gateway to the tech industry for New York City, was a really unique opportunity for us," said David Rochefort, president at Graduate Hotels and a Cornell alum.
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