Witkoff: 20 Times Square was delayed by site complications

Developer had to consult with MTA before moving project forward

Rendering of 20 Times Square (rendering by ArX Solutions) (inset: Steve Witkoff)
Rendering of 20 Times Square (rendering by ArX Solutions) (inset: Steve Witkoff)

In 2012, the Witkoff Group announced it would build a new hotel at Times Square, but it took four years for the development to really begin taking shape.

That’s because excavation at 20 Times Square found that old footings — the bottommost part of a foundation wall — at the site were “attached to nothing” and “literally floating free,” Steve Witkoff [TRDataCustom] told the New York Post. Before he could add support to the site, Witkoff needed to consult with the MTA, since the N, R and Q lines run directly beneath the property. The developer, whose firm is now called Witkoff, said this added another eight or nine months to the development schedule.

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Witkoff, along with Howard Lorber’s Vector Group, Ian Schrager, Winthrop Realty Trust and Maefield Development are developing a 39-story project at the site, which will include a Marriott Edition hotel with 452 rooms and 76,000 square feet of retail space.

The Real Deal reported in May that the National Football League plans to take 25,000 square feet of space at the project. Hershey Company is also going to open a new flagship store at the base of the hotel, a space that will triple its current Times Square presence. [NYP] — Kathryn Brenzel