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A dream no more: Renderings revealed for Dream Hotel Times Square
Soho Properties' tower is expected to be finished in 2018
A new Dream Hotel is designed to be the “quiet and elegant” buffer between the Garment district and the nightmarish bustle of Times Square.
The glassy, 29-story tower is planned for the corner of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue, between the two neighborhoods. New renderings of Soho Properties’ Times Square Dream Hotel reveal a lower-level retail portion that has high windows and an artistic metal screen.
The first two floors of the so-called “retail podium” will feature tall, low-iron glass windows, topped by a bluish-silver metal screen. The screen’s triangular pattern is meant to mimic a fabric design — a nod to the area’s fashion-centric history, said Doron Rice, an architect with Stonehill & Taylor, the firm designing the building. UAP North America designed the screen.
“It’s something that I hope will turn heads,” he said.
The podium will include 15,463 square feet of retail space across three floors, including 148 feet of wraparound frontage space, according to Soho Properties. Demolition will begin shortly at the site, formerly home of Parsons New School of Design at 560 Seventh Avenue. The tower is projected to be completed by the first quarter of 2018.
“We’re absolutely so excited to be able to finally develop one of the untouched corners of Times Square and one of the most important retail sections of New York City,” said Sharif El-Gamal, chairman and CEO of Soho Properties. “It’s one of the busiest corners in Midtown. There’s millions of eyes that go by the space.”
Soho Properties, MHP Real Estate Services and Hampshire Hotels Management bought the property in 2013 for $61.5 million. According to permits filed in March, 243 rooms are planned for the tower. El-Gamal said it was too soon to speculate on asking rents in the building, but he said pricing would be “commensurate with what is happening in the submarket.” The average asking rent in Times Square is $2,570 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s retail report for the third quarter of 2015.
El-Gamal would only say that future tenants will be “sexy” and will further drive foot traffic on the block.
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the designer of the building’s screen. It’s UAP North America