Peter Poon Architects filed plans this month for a 36-story hotel at 136 West 42nd Street that includes 15,000 square feet of retail space created with the expectation that it can draw some of the throngs one block east from Times Square. The 282-room hotel is being developed by hotel owner and manager Highgate Holdings and Chicago-based private equity firm Walton Street Capital, along with investors Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisition. The new building plans are under review, the city’s Department of Buildings website shows. The 404-foot-building will have about 135,000 square feet of hotel space, the filing shows. [more]

The city is reviewing plans for a 27-story hotel and condominium tower
designed by architect Peter Poon to be built at 50 Bowery in Chinatown
across from the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. The owner, Alexander Chu and his Bowery Holding, filed plans June 29
for the parcel that extends from Bowery through to Elizabeth Street,
just south of Canal Street, the Department of Buildings Web site shows.
Chu, son of well-known Chinatown landlord Joseph Chu, is chairman of Eastbank NA, a local bank based at 183 Centre Street. Peter Poon Architects has designed several projects in New York City, including 52 Watts and 86-100 Canal Street. [more]