Last week, hotel developer Sam Chang filed plans for a 25-story hotel at 338 West 39th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Now he has another hotel in the works next door at 342 West 39th Street.
New building applications filed this morning call for a 21-story, 400-key hotel. Each floor will have 20 rooms, and they’ll spread across 123,075 square feet of commercial space, for rooms averaging roughly 300 square feet. The cellars will hold break rooms, meeting rooms, offices and a gym, and a bar and restaurant, along with a lobby, will take up the first floor.
The building will reach 192 feet into the air and fill half of a 125-foot-wide lot. Unsurprisingly, Gene Kaufman is the architect of record.
Chang scooped up the 25,687-square-foot site for $112,150,000 in October, as YIMBY reported at the time. The sale price worked out to about $400 per buildable square foot. The property came with 300,000 square feet of development rights and runs through the block from 38th to 39th Street. Since Chang has only used half of the lot’s allowed density, he could erect a residential building on the 38th Street side. (But he’ll use up most of his commercial floor area with the hotel.)
The land is currently leased to advertising agency R/GA, which plans to relocate their offices in October. A two-story, 1960s-era office building currently occupies the property, and demolition applications were filed to knock it down last month.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
I’m willing to bet this will be much higher than 21 stories. Chang originally filed for 20 stories for the hotel at 340 West 40th street that he’s currently building and then amended that to its current 35 stories. 21 stories would be the lowest he’s ever gone on 39th-40th streets so I’m skeptical — but it would be great if true.