Trump, Starwood scope out JFK hotel plan

Andre Balazs isn’t the only big-name hotelier with his eye on the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s boutique hotel project at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Wall Street Journal dropped a few more hints today as to who might soon be jockeying for the opportunity to build a 150-room hotel adjacent to Eero Saarinen’s Trans World Airlines Flight Center, among them: Donald Trump, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and pod hotel owner-operator Yotel. The developers, as well as Balazs’ firm, Ironstate Development and WQB Architecture, as the Journal reported yesterday, have all sent representatives to check out the site in recent weeks, indicating that the Port Authority’s proposal to build a luxury property between the landmarked TWA terminal and the new JetBlue Terminal is piquing the interest of some of the industry’s biggest players. Plans call for the long-vacant Saarinen terminal to become a lobby for the new hotel, with restaurants and shops. [WSJ]