Yet another hotel by Gene Kaufman is rising, this time at 585 8th Avenue, between 38th and 39th Streets. The lot has an L-shape, with frontage on both Eighth Avenue and 39th Street, which is particularly unfortunate, as it seems likely that the street-wall of both blocks will now be broken.
Permits for the new building indicate it will stand 26 floors and rise 260 feet, with a total of 199 hotel rooms. The site does have a posted rendering, and it is useless – the top floors of the project are not shown, though it does depict Kaufman’s trademark anti-urban charm, evident in the ground floor’s setback from the street.
While there is no information on a potential hotel partner, the site does have a semi-interesting recent history, as a construction worker fell through the roof of the lot’s former building last year – luckily, he survived.
The surrounding neighborhood is at an awkward stage; the New York Times Tower is certainly nice, but overall, the vicinity continues to be dominated by Port Authority. Several new budget hotels have already risen on surrounding blocks – almost all of which have similar issues to 585 Eighth Avenue with regards to proper urban formatting – and the area could definitely aspire to much more, given its abundant transit connections.
All in all, if there is an appropriate location for an eyesore, it is where 585 8th Avenue will rise – and at the very least, it won’t be visible on the skyline. Completion is expected by the summer of 2015.
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