The Westin New York Grand Central is a 40-story, 800-room business-oriented hotel approximately two blocks west of the United Nations headquarters and a little more than one block east of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, New York.
History
The hotel was designed by Emery Roth & Sons and opened on February 18, 1981, as The Harley of New York - A Helmsley Hotel. Constructed by New York developer Harry Helmsley, the hotel's name was a combination of his own first name and that of his famous wife, Leona Helmsley. They co-owned the hotel with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The Helmsleys attended the opening, along with Mayor Ed Koch, but the inaugural luncheon that day was marred by an accidental fire, which necessitated the evacuation of the entire hotel and required 23 people to be treated for smoke inhalation.[1]
The Helmsleys purchased Hospitality Inns from Standard Oil of Ohio in 1981, renaming them to create a nationwide Harley Hotels chain[2] of 27 properties,[3]