The colorful Radio Tower & Hotel, a new 23-story mixed-use tower in Washington Heights, is now open to guests. Located at 2420 Amsterdam Avenue, the project was completed by developer Youngwoo & Associates with architects MVRDV and Stonehill Taylor.
The property includes a 221-room hotel, ground-floor retail, office space, and a Jalao NYC Dominican restaurant on the 19th floor with its own indoor-outdoor lounge. Additional outdoor space includes an 8,000-square-foot courtyard and a ground-floor garden.
Rooftop lounge area at Radio Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
Rooftop Bar at Radio Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
Skyline views from the rooftop lounge at Radio Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
Ground floor of the new Radio Tower & Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
The building features a ceramic brick façade that breaks away into eight boxy volumes, each with its own distinct color. From top to bottom this includes a vibrant lime green and yellow that transition into subdued blue, red, orange, teal, and magenta cladding. According to the design team, the unusual material selections are meant to evoke the diversity of the surrounding neighborhood.
“Our intention with Radio Tower & Hotel was to become a part of—to strengthen, even—the character of a neighborhood that is wonderful in its color, diversity, and atmosphere,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “Our building shows that new high-rise developments don’t have to overwhelm their surroundings and be disconnected from their neighborhoods. They can be a good neighbor, a friendly neighbor, instead.”
Now open, the hotel rooms range from 150-square-foot floor plans with bunk beds up to 450-square-foot premium suites priced at $670 per night.
Model bathroom at Radio Tower & Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
Model Guestroom at Radio Tower & Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
Aerial view of the new Radio Tower & Hotel – Courtesy of Radio Hotel
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Looks like the prison outside of a Chinese Airport where one waits to be freed after Covid-detention. Yeah, some nice colored glazed tiles, and I am not sure about the blue glow on your face while washing (reflected from the tiles- whose idea is that?)…the room is bleak, the mechanical junk on the lower and upper roofs is unfortunate, and the clunky boxy massing is amateurish. OMA it’s not, nor should it be. Well, the views are great!!
I like some of it and i dislike others. All i can say is there is room in this huge city for for some straight up weird. I dont think its a negative for the area. I can see kids sitting in the back seat of their family car while crossing the Hamilton Bridge asking their parents what that crazy building is that looks like it made of duplo blocks.
I’d like to see some Michael Young photographs of how this building actually looks. Is it really as colorful as the renderings?
This is really cool and perfect for its intended market.
Strange location for a hotel.
Right in line with the Hamilton and the GWB is a great place for the hotel. Sure not exactly a travel hub bit
But great to have a place family could stay nearby. Underserved neighborhood for lodging.
The green box on top looks hidious. Looks like a green container was left on top of a tan building built decades ago.
WHY??
It looks like giant building blocks, something you might see in one of the “instant” cities in China or maybe in South America?
This is NOT going to age well! 🤔
Regarding the tiled bathroom…
housekeeping probably just mops down the entire space? 🤔
Hide the Crayons..please.
Why not. It’s fun.
This area is not, and never has been, Washington Heights. This area is Fort George.
Only the area West of Broadway is Washington Heights. Each is on its own cliff overlooking Broadway. They are Very different neighborhoods.
Fort George, in spite of the presence of Yeshiva University, is mostly Dominican; Washington Heights is upscale, and gentrifying by the day.
This is Washington Heights. Fort George is more a sub-neighborhood contemporarily. While the overall area north of Harlem in Manhattan has been experiencing gentrification I wouldn’t call it upscale. It’s primarily a working class immigrant neighborhood with generational poverty issues in many sections, and an aging longstanding mostly moderate income population west of Broadway. Especially getting closer to the Hudson River. Gentrification sprinkled throughout.
“It doesn’t have overwhelm the neighborhood”? Is he kidding? This would overwhelm Hudson Yards or Times Square!
I cant tell if this is a joke.
I grew up east of Broadway, on the corner of St. Nicholas Ave. in Washington Heights. It is not now nor was it ever called Ft. George. Fort George is part of Washington Heights and is further north about 193 Street.
During the Cooperative conversions realtors started calling the area west of Broadway “Hudson Heights”. This is not an official designation, merely a sales gimmick to disassociate the area from Washington Heights which had a bad reputation from the “drug wars”.