Just up the street from the park, on Madison Avenue between 28th and 29th, sits the newly-renovated Carlton Hotel.Built in 1904 and originally known as the Seville Hotel, the Carlton recently completed a $60 million dollar makeover.

The Carlton restoration is exciting for our neighborhood and just one of the many transformations being unveiled in the area surrounding Madison Square Park. Several restaurants have recently sprouted up, including Urena, Porcao Churrascaria and A Voce, which just opened this past Tuesday. As Edmund Sulzman, General Manager of the Carlton, says, he hopes to see this avenue become a corridor of premier restaurants stretching from Eleven Madison all the way up to Country.

The magnificant restoration of the Carltontakes one back to an era of Old World elegance, charm and Beaux-Arts splendor. After all, in the early twentieth century, the area near the park was one of the most vibrant in the city. The newly-renovated Carlton hasbeen able to uncover and preserve the majestic ambiance of theturn of the centurywhile incorporating sleek modern elements.

Upon entering the building, limestone steps descend toa grandlobby. To the left is a prominent black-and-white photograph of the original hotel behind an indoor waterfall. Off the lobby, on the ground floor, is Geoffrey Zakarian's Cafe at Country.

The entry to Cafe at Country is a classic dark-wood bar. As one wanders deeper into the restaurant, a more elaborate bar island in the center of the cafe is surrounded by modern-design tables. The cafe serves contemporary American fare a la carte while the menu at the restaurant upstairs is amore upscale prix fixe servingorganic market-fresh dishes.

TheConservancy warmly welcomes the renovated Carlton Hotel and our other new neighbors and wishes them all of the best of success.