Hyatt Centric Wall Street

When some big chains venture into boutique-hotel territory, the result is basically the same old chain hotel, with an extra helping of funky plastic furniture. Not so with the Hyatt group’s Andaz sub-brand. The hotels under the Andaz banner are about more than just design; they’re boutique in philosophy as well, each one of them intensely localized — the London and West Hollywood outposts are as different as their respective cities, and a hotel doesn’t get much more Lower Manhattan than the Andaz Wall Street.

The casual deskless check-in sets the tone for a stay that’s not exactly typical. Today’s Wall Street leaves the traditional Gotham look to Midtown, and the Andaz, designed by New York’s own Rockwell Group, follows suit. You can expect the glossy finishes and lavish fittings of a luxury hotel that’s located at the heart of the financial world, but there’s also a healthy dose of downtown hipster funk, from the rough brick walls in the bedrooms to the impeccably sourced farm-fresh cuisine. And underneath it all is a high-end hotel by a group that certainly knows high-end — the bathrooms, for example, are as luxurious as those in any Park or Grand Hyatt, just a little sexier, in patented Manhattan black-on-black.

Its public spaces are no less impressive, including the Andaz Kitchen + Bar, whose menu ranges from traditional Italian and classic American dishes to flavors from the Caribbean and Southeast Asia — all in an open-plan space that’s a magnet for Downtown social life, and which, in summer months, is joined by a beer garden, to further blur the dividing line where the hotel ends and the city begins.