The Chatwal, a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan where rooms go for upwards of $500 a night, is not exactly a holy site.
But the hotel, which, according to HotelChatter, formerly housed a church, has managed to avoid paying property taxes for the past five years by failing to change its "house of worship" tax-exempt status with the city, the New York Post reports.
The hotel now owes the city $2 million, according to the Post.
Last fall, the city said it would ask some 12,000 property owners to verify that they qualified for the tax exemption, the Post writes. The Chatwal, a 10-story hotel that also houses the posh Lambs Club Restaurant, was reportedly one of the biggest recipients of the tax break, saving $1.2 million this year alone.
A representative for The Chatwal had no comment on the story.
[via HotelChatter]