While the flashing marquee lights and LED billboards of 1568 Broadway continue to brighten the crossroads of the world, the light bulbs and digital screens will one day turn off as the building prepares for demolition. Plans for the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton call for an entirely new 46-story, 550,000 square foot building dubbed TSX Broadway. The 106-year old Palace Theatre will be the only part of the original site to be preserved, structurally elevated, and integrated into the $2.5 billion dollar redevelopment. L&L Holding Company, Maefield Development, and Fortress Investment Group are the developers who purchased the site for $450 million dollars.
As of now, the extant hotel is operational while the billboards and LED screens are still pulsating with energy. One notable aspect about the site is the number of closed doors and windows along 7th Avenue. They once held a number of small independent businesses as well as a gentlemen’s club. Sidewalk sheds have now been installed along Broadway and West 47th Street, indicating work on the building should start very soon.
The billboards on the DoubleTree by Hilton as of December 2018. Photo by Michael Young
Sidewalk sheds have been installed for construction starting in January. Photo by Michael Young
The new retail podium will have one large screen with a permanent outdoor platform that cantilevers over the sidewalk. Views up and down Times Square will be plentiful when standing 30 feet above the street, higher than the top of the TKTS red staircase across the street. The new stage can also serve as a platform for live performances, outdoor venues, or become part of the New Year’s Eve celebrations. In the end, this adds a unique character to the changing face of Times Square, and the number of ways companies try to get the attention of onlookers and tourists from around the world to shop, eat and interact with the neighborhood’s buildings.
The new LED wrap-around signage on 1568 Broadway across from the TKTS staircase. Rendering courtesy of L&L Holding Company
The only large remaining occupant along Broadway is McDonald’s which has been at their iconic Times Square location for a number of decades. Soon, they will relocate to a nearly 7,000 square foot, two-story location across from Sunglass Hut on the northern corner of the Bow Tie Building, at 1530 Broadway.
The new home for McDonalds located at 1530 Broadway, opening soon. Photo by Michael Young
When complete, the building’s podium will be entirely surrounded by a wrap-around, curved LED screen. The level of luminosity and conspicuity will rival the upcoming Edition hotel at 701 7th Avenue. Both sites encompass a similar building mass and hierarchy of retail, commercial and hotel space. They maximize the amount of retail signage covering each of their podium floors before yielding to hotel floors above.
1568 Broadway, rendering courtesy of L&L Holding Company
Looking from the red stairs, this section of Times Square will see one of the most significant transformations since the early 2000’s. That was when a majority of new office and commercial buildings began to sprout on the southern tip of the bow tie, between West 42nd Street and West 43rd Street. These towers included the former headquarters of Conde Nast at 4 Times Square, the Thomson Reuters Building at 3 Times Square, and the Times Square Tower, situated directly behind the 115-year old 1 Times Square
A completion date for TSX Broadway has not been announced yet, but work is reportedly to begin in January.
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Don’t expect anytime soon for this new hotel development, first it will be entire demolition, this marks the younger building ever demolished in our city, takes several years, then several years of new construction, hopefully in one decade from now this hotel will be open. So, don’t expect it before 2025!!! Yes, new building is more fit in New Times Square, thumps up!!!
The timescales suggested in this post are inconsistent with the way finance works if nothing else. It just isn’t feasible for lenders to have funds tied up for such unnecessarily lengthy periods. Contractors have decades of experience completing high-rise buildings in much shorter times than envisaged in the post. Keep in mind that in the 1930s, the 102-story Empire State Building was complete and open for letting 13 months after commencement of the foundations. The structural steel frame for that building was completed in five months. Admittedly, it was the era of the Depression so labor supply was abundant and it was 24/7 working throughout but timescales commensurate with the ESB allowing for modern working practices are routinely and regularly achieved in Manhattan and in other cities in the USA and also in other countries.
As to the demolition period, I imagine the existing building, given its height and completed in 1990, would likely have a steel frame as opposed to reinforced concrete. Demolition is likely to be quicker if the former is the case but either way, I wouldn’t expect it to take more than 5–6 months at most, not years. With the advances in high-strength concrete-mix and pumping technologies in the intervening years, I would expect the designers to opt for a poured-in-place, reinforced-concrete structure for the new build with typical guestroom floors being completed at the rate one every five days.
Given that the Palace Theater at the base of the development is being raised about 30 feet, I foresee that the existing bridging structure will require modification at least and so, on the face of it, the initial structure build might be at a slower pace. All that said, I’d be very surprised if the hotel doesn’t open in 2021 with the restored theater possibly following on behind.
The wraparound signage on the lower floors looks to be another one of these obnoxiously bright affairs that drown out everything in the vicinity with their over-the-top garish & blinding intensity – a far cry from the multi-faceted and colorful displays of a glittering TImes Square that is being lost. This kind of neon monstrosity pummels you instead of inviting and interacting with you.
I don’t really understand demolishing a 45-story building and replacing it with a 46-story one that looks to have nearly the same dimensions.
Researching this issue, apparently the plan is to increase the guestroom count by 350 over the existing, nearly doubling the existing. The existing hotel tower was completed in 1990, nearly three decades ago. In the intervening period, guestroom design standards have changed as have guest expectations. Changes in structural and mechanical services design have also occurred meaning that, taking all these things together, the increased guestroom count is feasible but not within the existing structure, hence its demolition. The economics of any hotel are very much dependent on occupancy rates and given that Times Sq. is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, I feel sure that the developers are confident that the new hotel will enjoy high rates for many years to come, thus assuring a reasonably quick return on the development cost.
I stayed at the Doubletree once. The room was a suite, with a good sized bedroom and also a living room area. It was way bigger than most people probably need, and if all the rooms were like that, I can see how they would be able to fit many more smaller rooms in a similarly sized building.