The Millennium Times Square New York (formerly the Hotel Macklowe and the Millennium Broadway) is a hotel at 133 and 145 West
44th Street, between
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
and
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
, in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Operated by
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels is a global hospitality management and real estate group, with 125 hotels in 22 countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The company is headquartered in Singapore and London. It was l ...
, the hotel has 750 guest units, as well as a conference center with 33 conference rooms. The hotel incorporates a
Broadway theater
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the List of ...
called the
Hudson Theatre
The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the Hudson was built ...
into its base.
The hotel is composed of two guestroom towers flanking the Hudson Theatre. The original 48-story tower west of the theater was designed by William Derman and
Perkins & Will
Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006.
History
The firm was establ ...
, while the 22-story annex east of the theater was designed by
Stonehill & Taylor. The original hotel tower contains a lobby with a passageway connecting two entrances on 44th and 45th Streets. In addition, there is a bar, restaurant, and fitness center in the original tower. The conference center in the lower stories extended into the Hudson Theatre, which in 2017 became a Broadway theater. The 22-story annex is branded as the Millennium Premier New York Times Square.
The hotel's original tower was developed by
Harry Macklowe
Harry B. Macklowe (born 1937) is an American real estate developer and investor based in New York City.
Early life
Macklowe was born to a Jewish family, the son of a garment executive from Westchester County, New York. He graduated from New Roc ...
as the Hotel Macklowe. Though Macklowe had acquired land for the hotel in the early 1980s, he was penalized after illegally demolishing four structures on the site in 1985, and he could not develop the site until 1987. The original tower opened in early 1990 and incorporated the Hudson Theatre into the conference center.
Chemical Bank
Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world.
Beginning ...
acquired the hotel from Macklowe through
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
in 1994, reselling to
CDL Hotels
City Developments Limited (CDL), sometimes also known as CityDev, is a Singaporean multinational real estate operating organisation. Founded in 1963, CDL first developed projects in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as well as in Singapore. Due to geo-po ...
, which renamed it the Millennium Broadway. The Millennium Times Square New York was affiliated with the
DoubleTree
DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. As of December 31, 2019, it has 587 p ...
brand of
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide, Hilton.
The original company was founded by C ...
from 2019 to 2021, after which Highgate was hired to manage the hotel.
Site
The Millennium Times Square New York is at 133–145 West 44th Street, between
Seventh Avenue and
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
near
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
, in the
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The hotel is split across two
land lot
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...
s, each with a separate wing of the hotel. The larger lot at 145 West 44th Street covers , with a frontage of on 44th Street and a depth of . That site includes the
Hudson Theatre
The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the Hudson was built ...
, which is between the two wings of the hotel.
The smaller lot at 133 West 44th Street covers , with a frontage of on 44th Street and a depth of .
The surrounding area is part of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
and contains many
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
s.
On the same block,
1530 Broadway
The Olympia Theatre (1514–16 Broadway at 44th Street), also known as Hammerstein's Olympia, was a theatre complex built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I in Longacre Square (later Times Square), New York City, opening in 1895. It consisted of ...
is to the west and the
Hotel Gerard
The Hotel Gerard, currently known as aka Times Square, is a historic hotel located in New York, New York. It had also operated at the Hotel Langwell and Hotel 1-2-3. The building was designed by George Keister and built in 1893. It is a 13-story, ...
and
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York Ci ...
are to the east. Other nearby buildings include the
High School of Performing Arts
The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984.
In 1961, the school was m ...
to the northeast, the
Lyceum Theatre and
1540 Broadway
1540 Broadway, formerly the Bertelsmann Building, is a 44-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the building was d ...
to the north,
One Astor Plaza
One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway and formerly the W. T. Grant Building, is a 54-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Der Scutt o ...
to the west,
1500 Broadway
1500 Broadway is a skyscraper located in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The skyscraper was completed in 1972 by Arlen Realty & Development Corporation, with a height of , and has 34 floors. 1500 Broadway is famous for the seven ...
to the southwest, and
the Chatwal New York
The Chatwal New York, originally the Lambs Club Building, is a hotel and a former clubhouse at 130 West 44th Street, near Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was originally six stories high and wa ...
hotel and
the Town Hall to the south.
Among the structures that had previously occupied the site were two
single room occupancy
Single room occupancy (more commonly abbreviated to SRO) is a form of housing that is typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a small desk. SRO units are ren ...
(SRO) hotels at 143 and 149 West 44th Street, as well as residences.
The eastern section of the site, 133 West 44th Street, had been occupied by the
Newspaper Guild
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practice ...
from 1946 to the late 1990s.
Architecture
The Millennium Times Square New York consists of two wings flanking the Hudson Theatre.
The section west of the theater was originally developed by
Harry Macklowe
Harry B. Macklowe (born 1937) is an American real estate developer and investor based in New York City.
Early life
Macklowe was born to a Jewish family, the son of a garment executive from Westchester County, New York. He graduated from New Roc ...
as the Hotel Macklowe. The building has 48 stories according to the
New York City Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
(DCP),
and a height of .
Macklowe's in-house architect William Derman, as well as
Perkins & Will
Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006.
History
The firm was establ ...
, were responsible for the final design.
The firm of
Gruzen Samton Steinglass
Jordan L. Gruzen (1934–2015) was an American architect.
Gruzen was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to B. Sumner Gruzen, an architect. He graduated from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in 1957. He then attended the University of ...
had been involved in preliminary designs, but that company was replaced by Perkins & Will during development.
To the east of the theater is a 22-story annex, developed in 1999 for
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels is a global hospitality management and real estate group, with 125 hotels in 22 countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The company is headquartered in Singapore and London. It was l ...
. The annex was designed by
Stonehill & Taylor and
Kiat Supattapone;
it is known as the Millennium Premier New York Times Square.
Form and facade
The
facade of the Hudson Theatre is incorporated into the base of the tower.
The architectural firm of
J. B. McElfatrick & Son was the theater's original architect, but the firm of Israels & Harder oversaw the completion of the theater's design.
[; ] Both the theater's 44th and 45th Street elevations are clad in tan brick with
Flemish bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks ...
. The four-story 44th Street elevation, serving as the theater's primary entrance, is divided into five vertical
bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
and contains entrance doors at ground level.
The five-story 45th Street elevation is comparatively plain in design and has little decoration.
[; ]
Macklowe acquired the unused
air rights
Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others.
This legal ...
of the Hudson Theatre to make the original tower taller than would normally be allowed under zoning laws.
The first seven stories of the hotel are made of stone,
designed in a classical style to complement the Hudson Theatre.
The main entrance is at 44th Street, while the convention center entrance is at 45th Street.
The 44th Street entrance is flanked by silver
sconces and contains a canopy.
The rest of the hotel was designed in a modern style because, according to William Derman, it would appeal to "high-tech clients".
The facade of the upper stories is made of dark glass.
A wall of Deer Isle granite was built in front of the lower stories of the annex, also complementing the theater; it was designed as a standalone slab rather than as a portion of the annex's facade. The entirety of the annex is
set back from the stone wall, recessed from the lot line. According to
Paul David Taylor of Stonehill & Taylor, the zoning regulations would have required a
setback at a low height if the hotel had been built out to the lot line.
Features
![W_44_St_Oct_2021_178](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/W_44_St_Oct_2021_178.jpg)
According to the DCP, the hotel has of
gross floor area
In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
.
The original hotel building was also designed with of office space.
The original hotel was designed with a
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
made of concrete. The hotel has 750 rooms across its two towers: 625 in the original hotel and 125 in the Premier annex.
Lobby
Within the original hotel building, the two entrances are connected by a passageway running the entire block, which functions as a
privately owned public space
Privately owned public space (POPS), or alternatively, privately owned public open spaces (POPOS), are terms used to describe a type of public space that, although Private property, privately owned, is legally required to be open to the public un ...
. The southern end of the lobby contains a waiting area on the western wall and the Hudson Theatre on the eastern wall. The center of the lobby has a concierge, hotel check-in desk, stairs, and elevators, while the northern end of the lobby includes a gift shop. The walls contain ''Day-Night'', a pair of oil paintings by
Carlo Maria Mariani, which depict an awake man and a sleeping woman.
The lobby is also decorated in wood and black marble.
Derman designed the original decorations, which included gray-and-black carpets evocative of
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
's interiors. The convention-center lobby was designed with mahogany, a reference to the decorative scheme at
the Four Seasons Restaurant
The Four Seasons Restaurant (known colloquially as the Four Seasons) was a New American cuisine restaurant in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City from 1959 to 2019. The Four Seasons operated within the Seagram Building at 99 Ea ...
.
The elevator cabs were clad in mahogany and steel.
Because the original hotel and the Hudson Theatre were already ornately decorated with marble, the Premier annex was clad in simpler marble.
The hotel was designed with one bar and one full-service restaurant.
Ali Barker was the original executive chef for the hotel's restaurant. Originally, the restaurant was known as Restaurant Charlotte, which offered both full-service meals and afternoon tea.
When the hotel passed under Millennium ownership, the restaurant space became the Bugis Street Brasserie and Bar, serving Singaporean cuisine.
Guestrooms
When the Hotel Macklowe was built, it was variously cited as containing 635,
637, or 638 rooms.
Each room had a television that allowed visitors to look for and purchase tickets for airlines, theaters, sports events, and other attractions.
The service was branded as "MackTel"
and could also be used to request
room service
Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...
.
The rooms' decorations were designed with a black and tan color scheme, cherry-wood headboards, and Art Deco armchairs. Rooms were also designed with marble-topped writing desks that contained minibars underneath.
Harry Macklowe's then-wife Linda decorated the rooms with prints from architects such as
Michael Graves
Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Grou ...
,
Zaha Hadid
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...
,
Arata Isozaki
Arata Isozaki (磯崎 新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019.
Biography
Isozaki was ...
,
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...
,
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect.
He is known for the design a ...
,
Morphosis Architects
Morphosis Architects is an interdisciplinary architectural and design practice based in Los Angeles and New York City.
History
The firm was informally founded in 1972 by Michael Brickler, Thom Mayne, Livio Santini and James Stafford. Michael Rot ...
, and
Bernard Tschumi
Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French-S ...
.
, the Millennium Times Square New York contains 625 rooms.
These consist of "standard rooms" of each,
"superior rooms" of each, and "deluxe rooms" of each.
The rooms are spread through floors 16 through 52. Higher units contain views of Times Square and the skyline of New York City.
he "Millennium Suites" are at the top of the original hotel tower and cover each.
The rooms have writing desks, European tubs, and full-height windows.
On the 16th floor is a private fitness center.
It contains a massage room, steam room, and a sauna,
as well as a room containing weights and exercise machines.
The 22-story Premier at Millennium Broadway is on the east side of the Hudson Theatre and is designed with 125 units.
The annex has six units per floor on average.
Each of the units has European tubs, full-height windows, three telephone lines, a
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
hookup, and a fax machine.
The public corridors of each floor were originally decorated with color photographs from ''The New York Times''. There is also a mezzanine containing the Premier Lounge and Boardroom, which serves breakfast and evening cocktails.
, the Millennium Premier New York Times Square has "premier rooms" of , "deluxe rooms" of , and "executive rooms" of .
Conference center
The hotel's conference center is placed on the first five floors of the hotel.
and covers .
It was originally known as the Macklowe Conference Center and included 33 conference rooms.
These are composed of 12 smaller rooms, 15 medium-sized rooms, and six auditorium spaces.
The rooms could fit between five and 125 people.
When the hotel opened, each of the meeting rooms had custom furniture and lights, as well as modern
audiovisual
Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions.
Audiovisual service prov ...
equipment.
The rooms also had leather chairs and their own thermostats. The conference center as a whole had word-processing and secretarial services, fax machines, photocopiers, photographers, and a graphics studio.
Internet kiosks occupy the second floor,
and the roof had satellites to supplement the conference center.
There is also a catering service.
The conference center extends into the Hudson Theatre, which was converted into the conference center's auditorium.
A new deck, dressing rooms, and stage rigging were added to the theater, and a
projectionist
A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators".
Historical background
N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate.
Early ...
s' booth and a
Dolby
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...
sound system were installed as part of the conversion.
The auditorium has an orchestra level, boxes, two balconies, promenades on the three seating levels, and a large
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
behind the
proscenium
A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
arch. The auditorium's width is slightly greater than its depth, and the auditorium is designed with plaster decorations in high
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
.
[; ] The auditorium had a capacity of 700 guests when it was being used for theater-style events, but this could be converted to a banquet-style space for 300 guests.
In addition to independent corporate events,
weddings could be hosted in the theater.
After its conversion into a Broadway theater in 2017, the Hudson Theatre has had 970 seats.
History
![Hudson_Theatre_NYC_2003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Hudson_Theatre_NYC_2003.jpg)
The Hudson Theatre opened in 1903. It was originally operated by
Henry B. Harris, and then his widow
Renee Harris, until the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. It then served as a network radio studio for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
from 1934 to 1937 and as a
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
television studio from 1949 to 1960. The Hudson operated intermittently as a Broadway theater until the 1960s and subsequently served as a porn theater, a nightclub called the Savoy, and a movie theater. As early as the mid-1970s,
U.S. Steel
United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...
was attempting to redevelop the surrounding city block.
Development
Site clearing
Harry Macklowe acquired several properties on the block in the mid-1980s,
including the Hudson Theatre in May 1984.
He wanted to develop a tower on the site. The development of the lot started with a highly controversial demolition.
Macklowe paid Mitran Associates $380,000 to demolish four structures at 143–149 West 44th Street during the night of January 7, 1985;
at the time,
Sol Goldman
Sol Goldman (born Usher Selig Goldman, September 2, 1917 – October 18, 1987) was an American real estate investor and philanthropist. Goldman was the founder of Solil Management, a real estate investment firm he founded in the 1950s with his ...
was selling him the buildings, but the sale had not yet been finalized.
The demolition was carried out without either obtaining the necessary permits or disconnecting the utility lines. The demolition had been motivated by a desire to avoid a pending moratorium that would have prevented the demolition or conversion of SROs across the city for 18 months, which would take effect on January 9.
Macklowe had told John Tassi to tell Eddie Garofalo, who headed Mitran, that the buildings were being demolished on Goldman's behalf. This would subsequently lead to
perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
charges in association with the demolition.
The city government sought to imprison the responsible parties, and Manhattan district attorney
Robert Morgenthau
Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Attorn ...
indicted both Goldman and Garofalo.
Morgenthau sent the case to a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
, saying the defendants' failure to disconnect utility lines had constituted reckless endangerment.
Macklowe paid a $2 million fine,
and the city gave the money to the
Franciscans
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
, which used it to fund a development for the homeless. Initially, Macklowe had been planning an office tower for the site, but that had been delayed due to the controversy over the illegal demolition. Garofalo was found guilty of reckless endangerment, but he was given a conditional discharge absolving him from all charges if he did not get in any other legal trouble for a year. After being acquitted of
perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
in May 1986, Garofalo sued Macklowe for defamation. In 1988, on the third anniversary of the demolition, the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
ruled that Garofalo had to pay more than $1.5 million in
damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
to the New York City government. The ruling judge said: "That nobody was hurt and other property and people were not damaged is purely fortuitous."
Development of the tower was deadlocked for years due to legal troubles. A
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
ordinance had prohibited any structures on the site from being developed for four years; this action was meant to deter other developers from making similar demolitions for their own projects.
The City Council quietly overturned the ban on developing the 44th Street site in January 1987,
two years early.
The administration of mayor
Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was may ...
had suggested the ban be overturned because of concerns that the ban was unconstitutional.
The SRO moratorium was extended by five years at a council vote that May. The ''New York Daily News'' reported at the time that the moratorium would prevent the redevelopment of the Lenox Hotel at 149 West 44th Street, which stood in the way of Macklowe's project. Later that year, Macklowe paid the city $2.65 million so he could finish razing the Lenox Hotel site.
Construction
![W_44_St_Oct_2021_174](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/W_44_St_Oct_2021_174.jpg)
By early 1988, Macklowe was developing a hotel on the 44th Street site. A spokesperson for the
New York City Department of Buildings
The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction tra ...
said at the time that, since the SRO moratorium had expired, Macklowe was allowed to develop the site.
In addition, Macklowe had been granted a zoning bonus that allowed the hotel to be built with 20 percent more space than the maximum that was normally allowed in the zoning district.
Had Macklowe commenced the hotel as originally scheduled, he would not have been granted the bonus.
Macklowe also received $3.3 million in restitution from the city government after the
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...
found the SRO moratorium to be illegal.
He also received tax abatements under the Industrial and Commercial Development Incentive program.
The project was managed by Kent Swig, who was Macklowe Properties' vice president
and Harry Macklowe's son-in-law.
McCaffrey & McCall was hired as the marketing agent for the hotel. Because this was to be the first hotel in the Macklowe chain, all staff had to be newly hired, unlike in more established chains where more senior staff was transferred from other hotels.
During the hotel's construction, models of guestrooms and conference rooms were built on the Hudson Theatre's stage.
In January 1989, the media reported how the City Council had previously overturned the ban on developing the site. Some of the council members who had voted to overturn the ban said they did not realize they had voted to do so.
Harrison J. Goldin
Harrison Jay Goldin (born February 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and former politician.
He was born on February 23, 1936, in the Bronx, New York City. He graduated as Science Valedictorian from the Bronx High School of Science in 1953, and r ...
, the
New York City Comptroller
The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...
, ordered an investigation into the matter, saying Macklowe had signed a legal agreement in which he had accepted the ban.
Goldin also urged the city government to issue a "stop work" order on the hotel.
By then, the structure had been built to either the 25th story
or had surpassed the 30th story.
Koch had given conflicting explanations, first saying the ban had been revoked through legal channels, then suggested that council members did not read the legislation closely.
A critical piece in ''The New York Times'' said "the law was repealed, almost as furtively as Mr. Macklowe's crew had cleared the site".
At least one City Council member,
Carol Greitzer
Carol Greitzer (born January 3, 1925) is an American politician who served in the New York City Council from 1969 to 1991 and was the first president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Personal life and education
Carol Greitzer was born on January 3, ...
, wanted the council to protest the fact that Macklowe planned to name the development "Hotel Macklowe". Protests over the demolitions continued in later years, as in 1998, when artists posted signs on lampposts outside the hotel referencing the demolitions.
Operation
Macklowe ownership
Before the hotel's opening, Swig indicated that the hotel might charge $125 per room per night.
Swig indicated in November 1989 that there were already 100,000 overnight bookings for the hotel. Macklowe Hotel opened in May 1990.
It was one of three new hotels around Times Square at the time, the others being the
Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan
The Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan (originally the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Manhattan) is a hotel at 1601 Broadway, between 48th and 49th Streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The hotel is operated by thir ...
and the Embassy Suites Times Square. Following the previous year's
attack of a Central Park jogger, the hotel offered a paid service wherein a personal trainer would accompany guests while jogging in
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
.
The Hotel Macklowe advertised it as New York City's "only institutionalized hotel jogging service". The hotel's other services included a wardrobe service for frequent guests,
as well as the ticket reservation services within guest rooms.
One of the hotel's promotions included an offering of Broadway tickets and a dinner,
while another provided personalized bathrobes with guests' initials.
Senior citizens were given discounts.
The adjacent Hudson Theatre was renovated for $7 million.
The theater was to serve as an auditorium for independent events,
including corporate meetings, fashion shows, and product launches.
The hotel's opening had coincided with a nationwide recession. To promote the convention center during mid-1990, the Hotel Macklowe ran a promotion in which large groups were allowed to use the meeting facilities for free on their second day.
Among the events in the conference center was the
World Chess Championship 1990
The World Chess Championship 1990 was played between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. It was the fifth and final Kasparov–Karpov championship match, and saw Kasparov win by a single point.
1987 Interzonal tournaments
Three Interzonals were he ...
, where Russian
Grandmasters Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...
and
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Ches ...
competed in New York City's first
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013.
The first event recognized as a world championship was the World Chess ...
since
1907
Events
January
* January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.
February
* February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...
. The conference center also hosted events such as a reel of highlights from the
Banff Television Festival
The Banff World Media Festival (formerly known as the Banff World Television Festival) is an international media event held in the Canadian Rockies at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The festival is dedicated to world ...
in 1991, as well as a publishing conference in 1992. The hotel's management wished to attract fashion shows to the conference center as well, despite the relatively small size of Hudson Theatre's stage.
The conference center was particularly popular for announcements of corporate acquisitions and mergers.
By early 1993, hospitality analysts predicted that the Hotel Macklowe and several other New York City hotels were facing financial issues that would force them to be placed for sales.
Later that year, Macklowe
defaulted on several million dollars of debt on his other properties.
Chemical Bank
Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world.
Beginning ...
took over the hotel in February 1994 after Macklowe defaulted on the hotel's mortgage. The bank immediately sought to sell it. In September 1994, Chemical arranged to sell the hotel to
Kwek Leng Beng
Kwek Leng Beng (; born 1941) is a Singaporean billionaire businessman. He is the executive chairman of Hong Leong Group Singapore. In September 2019, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth to be US$3.4 billion.
Early life
Kwek's father, the late K ...
of Singaporean chain
CDL International for about $100 million.
The transaction valued the hotel at nearly $164,000 per room. At that point, half of the hotel's revenue came from conferences; the services included a $100,000 charge for broadcasting an event to live attendees at ten other sites.
After buying the hotel, Kwek hired outside management to operate it.
Millennium ownership
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CDL changed the Hotel Macklowe's name to the Millennium Broadway in October 1995, with
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels is a global hospitality management and real estate group, with 125 hotels in 22 countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The company is headquartered in Singapore and London. It was l ...
operating the hotel.
CDL acquired the adjacent Newspaper Guild building for $3.4 million in December 1996.
The Newspaper Guild had a three-story building and of air rights, but they had previously refused to sell their air rights, and these could no longer be transferred to nearby sites.
The Guild building had been fully occupied as late as 1991, but it had since lost most of its tenants. CDL wanted to redevelop the Guild site with a 19-story hotel annex containing 130 rooms, and it offered to pay $80,000 for
asbestos remediation of the site.
The acquisition was finalized in May 1997; CDL announced it would spend $28 million on the annex, or $230,000 a room.
The hotel was temporarily partially closed after an accident during the construction of
4 Times Square
4 Times Square (also known as 151 West 42nd Street or One Five One; formerly the Condé Nast Building) is a 52-story skyscraper at Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located at 1472 Broadway, between 42nd and ...
, one block south; the closure cost the hotel a quarter-million dollars per day.
The Millennium Premier annex opened in 1999.
The original hotel was also renovated in the early 2000s. In the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in 2001, the hotel received more corporate tenants, though this could also be attributed in part to the renovation.
CDL had requested a tax abatement for the construction of the Millennium Premier, arguing that it was part of the existing hotel because it did not have separate mechanical system and it was connected to the Hudson Theatre at several locations. The city initially denied the tax abatement, conceding the Premier annex was separate from the original hotel, and the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
upheld the decision. However, the ruling was overturned on appeal in 2003, and the city was forced to pay the abatement retroactively.
In 2005, Jablonski Berkowitz Conservation restored the theater for $1.2 million.
In December 2015, the
Ambassador Theatre Group
The Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is a major international theatre organisation headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in Woking (head office), London, New York, Sydney, Mannheim and Cologne. ATG's key operations comprise three in ...
signed a lease with Millennium & Copthorne to convert the Hudson Theatre back to a Broadway venue.
The Hudson Theatre was reopened as a Broadway theater in February 2017.
The hotel became affiliated with
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton.
The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...
, under the
Doubletree
DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. As of December 31, 2019, it has 587 p ...
brand, starting in June 2019. It was rebranded as ''Millennium Times Square New York, a Doubletree by Hilton Hotel''.
At the end of the affiliation period, the Millennium Times Square was to become a Hilton hotel.
The hotel briefly closed in early 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...
but reopened in June 2020. In June 2021, Hilton abruptly ended its affiliation, and Millennium Hotels and Resorts hired Highgate to manage the hotel instead.
Critical reception
In 1989,
Paul Goldberger
Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''.
Biography
Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...
wrote for ''The New York Times'' that the Hotel Macklowe "stands as New York's proudest monument to the art of the deal."
The following year, Goldberger wrote that the lobby "is a spectacular interior set within a mediocre new tower of dark green glass on a stone base that appears to have been designed for another building altogether", though the guest rooms were less impressive to him.
Terry Trucco, a hotel critic for ''The New York Times'', repeated the sentiment, saying: "The surprise is that this enormous 638-room hotel has an imposing sense of style".
A ''Los Angeles Times'' review described the hotel as having "all the luxuries of the major chain hotels but none of the tackiness".
See also
*
List of hotels in New York City
The following is a list of some notable hotels in New York City.
Number of hotels
Most of the hotels are represented by the Hotel Association of New York City trade organization. As of 2016, the organization had 270 members, representing 75,000 r ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
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External links
*
{{Hotels in New York City
1990 establishments in New York City
1999 establishments in New York City
City Developments Limited
Hotels established in 1990
Hotels established in 1999
Hotels in Manhattan
Skyscraper hotels in Manhattan
Times Square buildings