Hotels and retail complex coming to former Pop-Tarts site in Times Square

136 West 42nd Street (credit: PropertyShark)

Two new hotels and a retail complex are coming to Times Square, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, the space formerly occupied by Pop-Tarts World and Charmin Restrooms, DNAinfo reported. A new 250- to 300-room hotel is set to open in 2013 in the now-vacant lot at 136 West 42nd Street, worth from $112.5 to $135 million, according to DiamondRock Hospitality Company, which announced the deal. Highgate Holdings, which is expected to operate the hotel, declined to comment on its plans for the property, but C. Bradley Mendelson, executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield, which has been in negotiations over retail space there, said the property will likely rise 30 stories and could become a Hilton. The space next door at 1466 Broadway, also owned by Highgate and formerly the Knickerbocker Hotel, is set to be converted from office space back into an upscale, boutique hotel, As part of the renovation, the hotel’s main entrance will be moved to West 42nd Street. In addition to the hotels, a retail complex is coming to 120-126 West 42nd Street. According to Alan Schmerzler, a senior director at Cushman, the space is set to be reconfigured into a three-story glass and steel building with 22,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and about 50,000 square feet of retail space on concourse levels. [DNAinfo]