Atlas Hospitality is diving into the pool of uncertainty that is New York City’s hotel industry, planning a 401-key establishment in the heart of Midtown.
The hospitality firm filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a hotel at 711 Seventh Avenue. The approximately 140,000-square-foot hotel will be 32 stories and 343 feet tall, Crain’s reported.
Prolific hotel architect Gene Kaufman is the designer of the building, which has no brand yet. The goal for Atlas is to break ground on the project by early next year and to complete construction in early 2025.
Atlas is also developing hotels at 120 Water Street in the Financial District, as well as 305 West 48th Street in Times Square.
The hospitality firm is developing a hotel at a perilous time for the industry. More than 200 hotels in the city have permanently closed since the onset of the pandemic. And even with far fewer establishments open than usual, occupancy rates have lagged well behind what they typically are in the summer.
Because of the city’s reliance on business travel, the recovery of the industry is expected to take longer in New York than elsewhere. CBRE predicted that occupancy rates wouldn’t return to pre-pandemic levels in the city until 2025.
But there are signs of hope. More than 481,000 hotel rooms were booked the week of July 11, the most since the pandemic.
Atlas is not alone in moving ahead with hotel projects. Nearly 80 new hotels totaling 13,000 rooms are expected to open this year.
[Crain’s] — Holden Walter-Warner