Millennium Broadway Hotel
From the January issue: 1985, Macklowe demolishes Times Square SROs in illegal nighttime action. In an audacious attempt to circumvent more-restrictive building laws
set to take effect two days later, the Macklowe Corp. sent contractors
overnight to demolish four Times Square structures 25 years ago this
month.
On Jan. 7, workers partially brought down four buildings at 143-149
West 44th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The demolition
included two single-room-occupancy hotels. The work was done without
disconnecting the gas lines or obtaining the required permits. While no
one was injured, the next morning the street was blocked with bricks
and broken glass. The firm, headed by developer Harry Macklowe and later renamed
Macklowe Properties, hastily took down the buildings to avoid a
moratorium on the demolition of SROs proposed by the administration of
Mayor Ed Koch that was set to go into effect on Jan. 9. Elected
officials and housing activists were outraged by the demolition,
particularly because at the time, SROs housed many of the city’s
homeless. Click here for more.
