Very few old residential buildings in NYC are converted into hotels, in fact it seems more common for old hotels to be converted partially or entirely into residential space. (Hotel Chelsea, The Plaza, etc) Also at least in NYC, not very many people (that I've met at least) look at living in the city center (aka Times Square) as very desirable.

Didn't Paris have a big uproar a few years ago over shorter than 30 day rentals similar to NYC's current issues?