The owner of the New Yorker Hotel is expanding, renovating and rebranding the aging icon in anticipation of a boost in business when nearby Hudson Yards is completed.
A subsidiary of the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church is partnering with Wyndham Hotel & Resorts to substantially increase the number of rooms at 481 Eighth Avenue, which is located between West 34th and West 35th streets. Though plans for the redo have not been finalized, the room count at the New Yorker will reportedly go from 912 to 1,500 keys.
The additional rooms will be carved out about 270,000 square feet of commercial space from retail and office tenants whose leases are set to expire, the Wall Street Journal reported. The hotel has also spent at least $30 million redoing the lobby and ballroom.
“The grand old lady is coming back, and just watch as she regains all her shine and luster,” Ann Peterson, the hotel’s president and general manager, told the Journal.
The 42-story Art Deco hotel is located close to the construction site of Related Companies’ megadevelopment Hudson Yards over the West Side Rail Yards, as well as real estate investor David Marx’ Javitz Center hotel site at 448 11th Avenue. [WSJ] — Angela Hunt