Extell permitted for 1,350-key hotel at Times Square site where 194K sf office was originally planned
Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, on January 7, received a permit for construction of a 541,428-square-foot hotel building with 1,350 rooms at 740 Eighth Avenue in Times Square. The owner representative in the filing was David Rothstein of Extell.
Back in June of 2020 the developer filed plans for a 164-foot tall, 10-story, 194,552-square-foot office building at the site.
However, those plans have now been altered to reflect plans for the construction of a massive mixed-use hotel at the site. The updated PW1 and new Schedule A were uploaded on April 26 of last year, according to an examination of plans in the DOB under the job number 121208326.
The updated plans call for the construction of a 1,120-foot tall, 51-story hotel.
The developer uploaded zoning schematics of the project in November of this past year.
The project is described in the filings as: construction of a new building.
Per the plans, the ground floor of the building will have a lobby, multiple retail spaces, lounges, a deck, and office. The second floor will have additional retail space. The third floor will have amenity space, a business center, and terraces. The fourth floor will have a gym and spa. Floors six through 21 and 23 through 31 will each have 54 hotel rooms per floor. The 33rd floor will have a bar and kitchen. The 34th floor will have a bar and outdoor pool, along with a deck. Floors 35 through 51 will have several FDNY landing spaces, as well as observation decks on floors 38 through 40 and 49 through 51.
Extell acquired a portion of the development site through an unconventional deal with the Related Companies. The developer traded its One Hudson Yards property, where Extell had planned to build an office building, to Related for its Eighth Avenue site, plus a payment by Related of $168 million. Related has since rebranded the site as 55 Hudson Yards.
A series of other transactions this past year gave Extell control of 11 lots on the block. According to The Real Deal, Extell spent at least $186 million on the assemblage since 2014. The report stated that the acquisition of air rights by the developer could lead to a development that was over 500,000 square feet.
Extell development is one of the city’s most active developers, with at least four new large building plans being filed last year alone. A recent PincusCo analysis identified 21 new building plans filed by Extell since the start of 2008. The analysis did not include any plans for buildings less than 2,000 square feet in size or plans for projects that had been marked as withdrawn. Over the period, the developer filed plans for 14 residential buildings, four hotels, and three office buildings, one of which was a medical office building.
Direct link to Acris document. LINK
Direct link to DOB document. LINK