LPC to vote on landmarking Rainbow Room

From left: LPC Chairman Robert Tierney and the Rainbow Room
From left: LPC Chairman Robert Tierney and the Rainbow Room

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is slated to hold a vote tomorrow to give the awaiting-a-facelift Rainbow Room nightclub at 30 Rockefeller Center “interior landmark” status, the New York Post reported. If the majority vote comes out in favor, the next step would be to hold a public hearing.

The club has been closed since 2009 when the Cipriani restaurant family that operated it departed because of high rents. Landlord Tishman Speyer is currently commissioning a gut renovation of the space, and has already stripped parts of the space for a new kitchen, with an eye on reopening it.

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A landmark designation would prohibit the removal of the space’s historic features, some of which include a domed ceiling and a revolving dance floor with an inlaid-wood design of a compass. Though the Post said community leaders have advocated the landmark designation for four years, Tishman Speyer opposes the move — mainly because it would severely limit the scale of renovations.

As previously reported, aggressive landmarking as of late has found complaints in the real estate industry, which claims it stifles development. [Post]