A 220-foot-tall office development is set to replace two smaller buildings – one mixed-use and the other commercial – in Midtown’s tiny Diamond District. New building applications were filed Friday for the 17-story building at 43 West 47th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
Over the weekend, it was revealed, by the New York Post, that Extell Development is partnering with Hard Rock International to build a Hard Rock Hotel at 151-159 West 48th Street, located mid-block between Sixth and Seventh avenues, near Times Square in Midtown. Now, a rendering and additional details have been released in a Curbed NY report. The hotel tower will boast 445 rooms, a lobby lounge, a restaurant and bar, a rooftop lounge, and an underground speakeasy-style establishment. The hotel will also feature iconic music memorabilia, like many Hard Rock locations do. The 13,153-square-foot site is currently occupied by a seven-story parking garage and a five-story tenement building. Permits were filed to demolish the garage in February. The assemblage can accommodate 180,336 square feet of commercial development as-of-right. Additional air rights can be acquired elsewhere on the block and from around the district, as the site sits within the special Times Square zoning district.
One of the greatest single engineering challenges currently under construction in New York City has risen above ground. That project is the supertall mixed-use residential tower 111 West 57th Street, located just west of Sixth Avenue in Midtown, and we can see the construction progress on the Billionaires’ Row building thanks to several photos posted by YIMBY Forums users.
In early 2015, Wharton Properties and General Growth Properties (GGP) acquired, for $1.75 billion, the Crown Building – a 25-story, 385,600-square-foot multi-use commercial building – at 730 Fifth Avenue, located on the corner of West 57th Street in Midtown. Now, it’s been disclosed that developer Michael Shvo and Russian investor Vladislav Doronin are planning to acquire a large portion of the building for a mixed-use conversion project, the New York Post reported. The duo want to convert the upper floors of the current office building into an Aman hotel and 23 ultra-luxury condominium units. Wharton and GGP recently bought out the last remaining office tenant. The current owners plan to lease the remainder of the property that isn’t sold to Doronin and Shvo as retail. The retail space is currently being newly renovated and is expected to take up at least the first four above grade levels. Late last year, it was reported that Bulgari signed a 15-year lease on the ground floor.
Back in September of 2014, YIMBY brought you an update on the development site at 16 West 57th Street, along Midtown’s Billionaires’ Row, when the property was acquired for $95 million by a Brazilian investor. Last week, developer Sheldon Solow acquired the property, a five-story, 24,000-square-foot commercial building, for $128 million, The Real Deal reported. The developer also owns the adjacent properties at 10 West 57th Street, 20 West 57th Street, and 19 West 56th Street. The site assemblage now boasts 213,000 square feet of residential development rights, plus additional rights that can be put towards a commercial component. The new owner has yet to disclose plans for the site. Demolition permits were filed last year to raze 16 West 57th Street as well as the six-story office building at 19 West 56th Street.
