Tishman Speyer eyes luxury hotel at Rockefeller Center

Tishman Speyer is keeping its renovation of Rockefeller Center rolling with a luxury hotel project aimed at repurposing 10 floors of the iconic property. 

Aspen Hospitality, a co-owner of the office property, is planning to convert the portion above NBC’s “Today” show studios, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plans by the firm, which is owned by the Chicago-based Crown family, hinge on city approval. 

The hotel, the second Little Nell Hotel under Aspen’s umbrella, would include 130 rooms. The estimated cost of development and expected room rates were not disclosed; room rates at the 92-room hotel in Aspen start at $1,800 per night during the busy season.

The developers are seeking approval under a special permitting process that was approved at the end of 2021. In the immediate year after the city began requiring special permits to build a hotel, zero applications were filed, displaying the chilling effect of the legislation.

Proponents of the law argued special permitting would prevent an oversaturation of hotels and the disruption of residential neighborhoods. Opponents said the bill lacked land use rationale and would suck the life out of an industry already harmed by the pandemic. 

The Department of City Planning is reviewing the proposal from Tishman and Aspen. The proposal will also need approval from the Planning Commission and City Council; there’s already an agreement in place that would allow hotel employees to unionize.

The hospitality company hopes to open the hotel in three years.

The pivot to hospitality comes as Rockefeller Center struggles to keep its office tenants in-house. While the office portion of the complex is 93 percent leased, according to Tishman, it’s only occupied between 50 and 60 percent on its most busy days.

Last year, central tenant NBC reportedly did away with plans to expand its office footprint at 30 Rock by 90,000 square feet.

— Holden Walter-Warner