Excavation has begun at 38 West 36th Street, which will be a new 22-story hotel designed by Peter Poon. Renderings posted on-site are surprisingly adequate, and it does seem the design will cross the tolerable threshold; the building’s eventual occupant will be a Le Soleil Hotel, which – per DOB permits – will hold 161 rooms and rise 229 feet.
The future hotel’s facade will be surprisingly contextual, and looks to employ traditional elements rather than the neo-plastic cladding used on the Courtyard at 312 West 37th Street. The integration of classic materials, whether they are high-quality or not, will be a marked improvement over the aesthetics of past projects, though the new hotel’s treatment of the streetwall is far from perfect. The setback isn’t terrible but it’s certainly noticeable, and will leave ribbons of grey, empty space along the newly-exposed sides of 38 West 36th Street’s neighbors.
With construction already underway, the development is on pace to open towards the end of 2014. 38 West 36th Street is the latest of a slew of new projects rising in the neighborhood – the location straddles the edge of Midtown and the Garment District, which is increasingly booming with activity. Another hotel is slated to rise on the same block, at 59 West 36th Street; though Le Soleil won’t be nearly as bad as its western counterparts, it is becoming clear that the Garment District of yesteryear is quickly entering the twilight zone, as the entire neighborhood is modernizing rapidly.
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