Black shrouds and scaffolding have gone up over 1568 Broadway’s lower floors as crews begin the process of removing its Times Square-facing billboards and marquees. Meanwhile, workers are beginning to gut the interiors of the exsiting tower ahead of its imminent demolition. Built in 1990, the current DoubleTree hotel will eventually make way for a new 581-foot tall, 46-story hotel. The proposed 550,000-square-foot development, which will be called TSX Broadway, will preserve of the 106-year-old Palace Theatre by raising it three stories up from the ground floor, making way for retail space. The $2.5 billion project is being developed by L&L Holding Company, Maefield Development, and Fortress Investment Group. The site was previously purchased for $450 million.
1568 Broadway in the daytime. Photo by Michael Young
A large amount of scaffolding wraps around Seventh Avenue and West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
All the lights on the building have been turned off. Photo by Michael Young
The billboards at night are off and beginning to be removed one section at a time. Photo by Michael Young
The future tower will likely have the same height and proportions as its predecessor, but will feature improved video signage and retail space, providing a much more engaging experience for shoppers and tourists.
The new LED wrap-around signage on 1568 Broadway across from the TKTS staircase. Rendering courtesy of ARX Solutions
The most intriguing of element shown in the renderings of the forthcoming tower is a cantilevered balcony three stories above Times Square, surrounded by an expansive wraparound LED video board, which will be among the largest and brightest in the famous crossroads of the world. Atop this will sit an outdoor terrace.
It is possible for the superstructure to begin coming down in the second half of 2019. A completion date for 1568 Broadway has been announced and scheduled for 2022.
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They are tearing down a DoubleTree Hotel, to build a DoubleTree Hotel. God bless America.
With so much retail space throughout New York remaining empty for years, I find it curious that they would spend so much money raising The Pace Theatre to create more retail space which will probably remain empty.
They are not going to “raze” the theater but “raise” it! The Palace will be lifted some 5 feet for a host of reasons. The theater will indeed remain and there was NO mention of adding any retail to this corner! On top, the new skyscraper.
According to usually reliable sources, the theater, a landmarked building, is to be raised about 30 feet which will surely be an impressive engineering feat. The additional space thus created will be utilized in part to enhance operating aspects of the theater which evidently have been rather cramped beginning with its original inception. The auditorium is to be renovated with strict adherence to the original design. The remainder of the additional created space will be available for retail and considering the daily foot traffic through Times Sq., it seems doubtful that there’ll be any real difficulty letting the space. Location, location, location!
They are tearing down a non-ADA building to build a bigger modern one. God bless America. Every non-compliant building should be as of right to tear down and build a comparably bigger one that is accessible for all.
This is an utterly enormous waste of resources and a joke. ADA accessibility to random hotels in Times Square is simply not necessary.
I’m working in the building next door and this is going to suck.
Be honest, it already sucks to work there
It’s amazing what location can command. If this 20 yr. old tower was located just about anywhere else, it would be hard to imagine this project being executed.
$2.5 billion for a DoubleTree hotel, a theater, and some retail…hmmmmm
669 rooms. $350 a night. 90% occupancy. $181k per night = $77mn per year revs on the hotel. Even with $50 per night servicing that results in $65.9mn profit per year. With the largest billboards costing $3mn per month, then this probably speaks to another $60mn a year in profit given the number of billboards here, maybe more given the renderings perhaps even $100mn. 75,000 sqft of retail at $600 per ft gives another $45mn.
I’m guessing the theater may rent for $500k per week so that makes another $26mn which brings the total income to close to $200mn a year which would be an 8% yield even assuming 0% inflation in any of these costs. If the billboards rent for more then that yield increases to perhaps 10%.
How does that work out when you subtract the revenue from the current hotel, plus the lost time for demolition and construction?
they just won’t stop
“The Palace will be lifted some 5 feet…”
No, the article says: “raising it three stories up from the ground floor”
I also read “will preserve of the 106-year-old Palace Theatre by raising it three stories up from the ground floor, making way for retail space. “
The footprint of the “old” tower, right down to the curved corner, looks identical to the new tower. Are they really tearing down everything or just gut renovating? $450 million just to buy a tear down is nuts. That last rendering of Times Square with wall to wall people is hilarious!
I noticed that too, the new tower has the same shape as the current one, that’s weird.
I imagine that raising the entire theater 3 stories would be nearly impossible to achieve retrofitting the current tower. Thus it shall be demolished so they can redesign from scratch. I wonder how much of the original theatre they are required to reuse as it seems like actually elevating the whole thing in such a cramped location seems almost impossible. So one would imagine a piece by piece dismantling and reconstruction