In November, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the lifting and reconfiguration of the landmarked Palace Theater at 1564 Broadway. Now, thanks to EB-5 documents, we have full renderings of what the DoubleTree Hotel site surrounding it will look like once the redevelopment is finished.
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.
Late last year, news broke that E&M Associates and Eiran Gazit were planning to build a 49,000-square-foot Times Square tourist attraction in part of the 12-story former New York Times Building, an individual landmark at 229 West 43rd Street and 216 West 44th Street (the north building is not landmarked), in Midtown. Now, the team has filed plans with the Department of Buildings for the project, dubbed Gulliver’s Gate, The Real Deal reports. The ground floor portion will include the reception and ticketing areas, as well as a gift shop, while the second will host the main exhibit. The project is expected to begin the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) shortly. It also requites exterior alterations to the 43rd Street side, which will need to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Last November, the team signed a 15-year lease for part of the ground floor and the entire second floor of the building. Kushner Companies acquired the retail portion of the property, which also contains office space, in early 2015 for $296 million. If all goes as planned, completion can be expected in 2017. Stanley Wong’s SP WONG Architect is the architect of record.
On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a plan to relocate the entrance to the Paramount Building, an individual landmark at 1501 Broadway in Times Square, from Broadway on to West 43rd Street.
The long-vacant Times Square Theater, located at 217 West 42nd Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues in Midtown, may have another chance to be used, according to the New York Post. Singapore-based Oracle Projects International, which produces and designs events, has reportedly leased the property. The former theater is overseen by the state’s Historic Preservation Committee as well as New 42nd St, a nonprofit that leases the theater (and five others) in a 99-year lease. In recent years, the building was leased twice with different reuse projects in mind, but both failed to come to fruition. The latest plan would likely include, at the very least, minor alterations to, or a restoration of, the existing building. The building’s interior and exterior were on the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s backlog, but were removed from the calendar without prejudice last month.
