Like several others, he said that many people still harbor Bronx-is-burning era mental images of the borough as a dangerous, desolate place, even though Bronx crime is at a record low and development is humming along. 'But I really don’t see how it’s going to affect my shoppers or merchants.'

“I appreciate them building this hotel here,' said Vincent Valentino, president of the Hub Third Avenue Business Improvement District. Still, some remain skeptical that tourists who stay at the hotel mainly for its affordable rates and proximity to Manhattan will spend either time or money in The Bronx.

On Friday, for example, she said she dropped off some Bronx brochures at the Opera House, which until then had only Manhattan pamphlets to offer. Tirado said her agency is acutely aware of that challenge and looking to address it. “We have a nice borough,” he said, “but nobody promotes it.” Groups including the Bronx Tourism Council and the economic-development agency SoBRO hope the hotel will boost the South Bronx directly, by sending tourists to local businesses, and also indirectly, by helping update outsiders’ perception of the area.īut no one claims that either feat will be easy, since few visitors from beyond New York are likely to know many Bronx destinations beyond a handful of big-name attractions, such as the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium.īusiness owners like Amir Chayon, co-owner of Ceetay, a new Port Morris-area sushi restaurant, said city and Bronx officials have not adequately advertised the borough’s off-the-beaten-path attractions. “If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity to keep people here,” said Olga Luz Tirado, executive director of the Bronx Tourism Council, “then shame on us.” On Labor Day weekend, every one of the boutique hotel’s 60 rooms was booked, drawing guests with deals of $160 to $200 per night, which hotel management said was less than half what comparable rooms would go for in Manhattan.īut as the Opera House takes off, some wonder whether surrounding businesses and Bronx attractions will rise with it - or if, instead, its guests will bed in The Bronx, but shop and play in Manhattan. MELROSE - Travelers from as far away as Ohio, Minnesota, Puerto Rico and even Denmark have recently ventured to the South Bronx to stay at the Opera House Hotel, just two weeks after it opened in a century-old former theater by the Hub. Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook.

New york opera house hotel