Merchants takes over gay-themed Hell’s Kitchen hotel

Developer plans to bring in new flag, nightclub

The Out Hotel at 510 West 42nd Street
The Out Hotel at 510 West 42nd Street

Merchants Hospitality bought the long-term lease on the famed Out Hotel near Times Square for $40 million and plans to put an end to its days as a gay-themed hotel.

The 105-room property at 510 West 42nd Street, developed in 2009 by Ian Reisner’s Parkview Developers, includes 7,500 square feet of restaurant and common space and a 14,000-square-foot nightclub. According to the New York Post, the hotel has been battling declining occupancy and revenues.

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Merchants plans to bring in a new hotel operator and a new night club. The property also has 50,000 square feet of unused development rights.

Merchants recently made headlines for an amended complaint in its ongoing legal dispute with GEMS Education over a failed school development on the Upper East Side. The firm owns several Manhattan hotels, including the Beekman Tower hotel near the United Nations headquarters. [NYP]Konrad Putzier