Times Square's Margaritaville Hotel Rises; Will bring 234 rooms + 5 Jimmy Buffet-themed venues in 2020

By CityRealty Staff | From Future New York Tuesday, October 15, 2019

After several stops and starts, construction is in full swing on The Margaritaville Resort New York City at 560 Seventh Avenue. The $350-million project being jointly developed by NY Soho Properties and Flintlock Construction will host 234 hotel rooms, retail, and a synagogue. The concrete structure is now approximately 24 floors up to its eventual 29-floor, 375-foot climb and should top out by year-end.

Soho Properties, led by Sharif El-Gamal, and MHP Real Estate Services had originally intended a Dream Hotel for the site at the northwest corner of West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue. Now rebranded as a Margaritaville Hotel, a global lifestyle brand inspired by the lyrics and lifestyle of singer, songwriter and best-selling author Jimmy Buffett, El-Gamal's more recent partnership with Flintlock secured $270 million in construction financing to cement the late 2020 delivery of the project.

October 2019 (CityRealty)

Hospitality specialist Stonehill Taylor is listed as the architects of record on permits. The tower will sport a glass-laden design with protruding sections along its prominent corner. A prior press release notes that there will be a whopping five Margaritaville food and beverage concepts, including an indoor/outdoor poolside LandShark Restaurant, and a rooftop 5 o’Clock Somewhere Restaurant. The food and beverage venues operated by International Meal Company. Other services and amenities will include in-room dining, a 24-hour fitness room, and room automation. Ground and below-grade floors will have retail and a synagogue which replaces the Garment District Synagogue that was formerly on-site withing the Parsons School of Design building. The building is slated to open by the end of 2020.

El-Gamal is also developing the SOMA Architects-designed 45 Park Place condo-tower in Tribeca, which will be sided by a Jean Nouvel-designed Islamic Museum of New York (IM NYC). In a March story from Real Estate Weekly, El-Gamal jokes, “I am the first Muslim I know of to develop a synagogue.” He continues, “I was attracted to the idea of supporting the development of a house of worship and I actively seek opportunities to build bridges across all faiths.”