• Meet the heavyweight political donors who live at River House.

Hotelier Jason Pomeranc takes some time to chat with the Observer this week and addresses the issue that always seems to be staring him in the face, namely the delays that have pushed back the opening of his new Thompson LES on several occasions now (not to mention made Pomeranc something of a running joke in the industry). But Pomeranc has good news! Three of the 22 floors will open this week, although if you'd like to use the pool or sample the restaurant on the second floor, you'll have to wait until October 15th when it will probably be too cold to swim anyway. "There are always unforeseen circumstances that cause delays in scheduling," Pomeranc tells Chris Schott. (Not addressed: The rumor that Pomeranc spends more time jetting around the world with his hottie publicist girlfriend Ali Wise, above, than he does at the office.) But if you think the delays and bad press may have humbled Jason just a little bit, well, don't get ahead of yourself.

If there's one thing Jason Pomeranc excels at it's swearing up and down that he'll open a hotel by a certain date and then failing to follow through. Now he's promised that his Thompson LES will open on July 15th—and, shockingly, it looks like actually might. There's a first time for everything, even when it comes to overly slick hotel developers. [Hotel Chatter]

Scion of real estate developer Jack Pomeranc, man-about-town Jason is responsible for boutique hotels like 60 Thompson and Thompson LES in New York, and the Roosevelt in LA.

If our father is to be believed, living in the shadow of Jason Pomeranc's Allen Street hotel is a lot like what it's like to be married: Each day you wake up with something uglier and uglier. The Lower East Side hotel is slogging towards completion, even as Pomeranc flirts with moving to Miami. Last week, a muddy Debbie Downer glass fa ade went up, and it was soon followed by a slate gray panel siding. Without the color of Blue or the light airiness of THOR, it seems like Pomeranc is subscribing to the Secretive Government Organization school of architecture. Ominous!

• When is Jason Pomeranc's new hotel opening? No one really knows! [HotelChatter]