In the Works: 300,000-Square Foot Sam Chang Hotel, 345-353 West 38th Street

345-353 West 38th Street, seen from 39th Street, image from Google Maps345-353 West 38th Street, seen from 39th Street, image from Google Maps

A large development site in the Garment District sold recently, in a deal brokered by Massey Knakal, according to a press release put out by the brokerage.

The block-through site, from West 38th and 39th Streets, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, has around 125 feet of frontage on the side streets, and can accommodate up to nearly 300,000 square feet of development. The contract price exceeded $112 million, working out to around $400 per buildable square foot.

Hotel developer Sam Chang, of the McSam Hotel Group, is the buyer. Reached by phone, he told YIMBY that it was too early to discuss plans, which have not yet been finalized. The property is currently leased to R/GA, an advertising agency, who won’t vacate until late 2015.

While the land’s zoning would accommodate just as much housing as commercial space, this area is one of the few parts of the city where hotels are often the highest and best use. The area south of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in particular has become a hotel hotspot, with a trio of budget hotels on West 40th Street erected by Sam Chang’s primary hotelier competitor, the Lam Group.

While we will have to wait until 2015 at the earliest for work to begin, a slew of other projects are under construction nearby, including a 13-story hotel at 308 West 40th Street, and two additional McSam developments, at 337 West 36th Street and 305 West 40th Street.

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