New Venue for HTT Market Party

New York —Home Textiles Today is moving its Market Kick-Off Party from the traditional Saturday evening slot to Sunday, Aug. 6. And, for the first time, the party will take place in the heart of the market's 5th Avenue showroom corridor.

The HTT Market Kick-Off Party will be held at the new 230 Fifth, the recently opened club that boasts New York City's largest rooftop restaurant. HTT's party for the industry will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Retail and supplier executives must present a business card for entry. The club is located at 230 Fifth Avenue, between 26th and 27th Streets.

The club/restaurant is owned and operated by Steve Greenberg, the impresario whose clubs and restaurants have included the legendary 349-room Gramercy Park Hotel, The Palladium and Roxy.

The big 22,000-square-foot space on the 20th floor features an 8,000-square-foot penthouse and 14,000-square-foot rooftop with views of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building to the north, the landmark Met Life and New York Life buildings to the east, the lower Manhattan skyline to the south, and the Hudson River to the west.

230 Fifth serves authentic Malaysian fare created in collaboration with renowned chef Zakary Pelaccio, who was recently named one of five Rising Star Chefs by Guide Gayot in its 2005 Restaurant issue. The HTT Market Party will include an array of the restaurant's hors d'oeuvres, as well as complimentary call brand liquors, beer and wine.

The nightspot opened last month, and operates every evening from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. During the 12 annual trade events involving the building's showroom tenants, the building management hopes to have the restaurant open for lunch, according to Jane Senders, executive director of the The New York MarketCenter at 230 Fifth Avenue.

The Home Fashions Product Association is urging retailers and suppliers planning to attend the February 2007 New York Home Textiles Market to book their hotel rooms as soon as possible.

The market dates – Feb. 12-16 – overlap with those of the International Toy Fair, which draws 17,000 visitors. Toy Fair attendees have already booked huge blocks of hotel rooms in the Fifth Avenue area, said Art Engle, whose Hillside Travel agency usually secures 400-plus rooms for home textiles buyers and sellers during market weeks.

HFPA president Dianne Morris urged members to tell clients to take action now “to ensure they do not experience difficulties reserving hotel spaces.”