Updated: 3:52, Sept. 18: Let’s hope JetBlue’s hotel rooms are at least a little bigger and better-appointed than its airplane seats.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey selected JetBlue and MCR Development to remake the former TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport into the airport’s only hotel.
The terminal, built in the early 1960s and designed by Eero Sarinen, stands adjacent to JetBlue’s existing terminal building, Crain’s reported.
The partners won a bidding process that included the likes of Donald Trump, the Related Cos., and London-based Yotel.
Details, including the amount the partners will pay the Port Authority, aren’t yet known. According to plans the companies released in July, the hotel will have 505 rooms and 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
“First-class hotels are a mark of a 21st-century airport and JFK and LaGuardia are among the very few major airports without this amenity,” said Thor Equities founder Joe Sitt, who also serves as chairman of the airport advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance. “We applaud the Port Authority for moving ahead with plans to develop the iconic TWA Flight Center, because it’s past time for a smart use for the building and for an on-airport hotel available to millions of JFK passengers.” [Crain’s] – Ariel Stulberg