Rendering via Omibuild, photo captured by CityRealty in late November
Among the many new hotels in the pipeline between 34th and 42nd streets in Midtown, is a Hyatt Centric under construction at 16 East 39th Street. The 24-floor concrete structure recently topped out at a modest 244 feet above street level. According to its construction manager, Omnibuild, the lodging will open in 2019 bringing 162 guest rooms, a rooftop lounge, and a ground-floor restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. Its mid-block site between Fifth and Madison avenues is close to Bryant Park, the Empire State Building, and Grand Central Terminal. McSam Hotel Group is the developer and Gene Kaufman Architects (GKA) is serving as the designer.
Introduced in 2006 by Hyatt, Hyatt Centric is a brand of lifestyle hotels that feature artistically curated spaces, destination-centric rooms, and spaces to work, relax, and socialize. While we often criticize the exterior designs of these budget-friendly hotels, they do bring vibrancy to blocks that once became desolate when the 9-to-5ers headed home. With their restaurant bars, roof decks, and wide-eyed guests, the tourist trade is handedly filling gaps that the seamstresses left behind.
One of the most salient examples of tourist-driven rejuvenation is the once-forlorn block of West 40th Street directly across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Despite its unfortunate location, overlooking a massive concrete wall and within a cloud of bus exhaust, the south side of the street is teeming with vitality due to seven hideous hotels opening in recent years, bringing three new rooftop bars, a half-dozen restaurants, and hundreds of visitors with them.
The western edge of Murray Hill the Hyatt will open in has been rather dormant during this past economic cycle. But with new venues such as VR World, the largest virtual reality experience in the western hemisphere, and the forthcoming Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), it appears Midtown's entertainment zone is ready to move east. Hopefully, we don't lose anything of substance along the way.
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