Crowne Plaza Hotel, Times Square
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The Hyatt Regency Times Square (formerly the Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan) is a hotel at 1605
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
, between 48th and 49th Streets, in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing a city's theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences ...
of
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The hotel is operated by third-party franchisee Highgate. The 795-room hotel was designed by Alan Lapidus and is tall with 46 floors. The facade was designed in glass and pink granite, with a arch facing Broadway. The hotel was designed to comply with city regulations that required deep setbacks at the base, as well as large illuminated signs. In addition to the hotel rooms themselves, the hotel contains ground-story retail space, nine stories of office space, and a 159-space parking garage. The hotel's tenants include the
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, and
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; in addition,
New York Sports Club Town Sports International Holdings (or TSI Holdings) is an operator of fitness centers in Florida and in Puerto Rico. Its current brands include Liv Fitness Clubs, Palm Beach Sports Clubs, and Christi's Fitness. Former brands include New York ...
was a former tenant. Developer William Zeckendorf Jr. bought the hotel's site in 1985 and subsequently razed the existing structures there. Construction commenced in 1988, and the hotel opened on December 1, 1989, as the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Manhattan. For the first several years of the hotel's operation, its office space and exterior signage was empty.
Adam Tihany Adam D. Tihany (born: Transylvania in 1948) is a hospitality designer based in New York. He founded the multidisciplinary design firm Tihany Design in 1978, and is considered the origin of the title "restaurant designer". His firm has designed h ...
redesigned the interior in 1999. The City Investment Fund, a joint venture between Morgan Stanley Real Estate and
Fisher Brothers Fisher Brothers is a real estate firm in New York City. It was formed by Martin Fisher in 1915, and later joined by his brothers Larry Fisher, Larry (born 1907) and Zachary Fisher, Zachary (born 1910). The Fisher family has substantial real estat ...
, bought the hotel in 2006 and renovated it again two years later.
Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is an American real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. History Two Guys The origins of the ...
then acquired majority ownership of the hotel in 2015. The hotel closed in 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 ...
and reopened in 2022. It closed again around January 2025 and will reopen as a Hyatt Regency in mid-2025.


Site

The hotel occupies the eastern end of the
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bounded by Eighth Avenue to the west, 49th Street to the north,
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
to the east, and 48th Street to the south. It is one block north of
Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing a city's theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences ...
of
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The mostly trapezoidal
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covers , with a
frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on Broadway and a depth of . The surrounding area is part of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
's
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing a city's theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences ...
and contains many
Broadway theatres Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...
. Nearby buildings include the
St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church is a parish church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located in Manhattan on West 49th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The parish has served the theatre community in a special way sinc ...
to the northwest;
The Theater Center The Theater Center (known as The Snapple Theater Center until 2016) is an off-Broadway theater on 50th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It has two stages. History The complex was built by actress and producer Catherine Russell in partnersh ...
,
Brill Building The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and farther uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. The Brill Building hous ...
, and Ambassador Theatre to the north;
750 Seventh Avenue 750 Seventh Avenue is a 36-story office building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed by Kevin Roche of Roche-Dinkeloo and developed by David and Jean Solomon. 750 Seventh Avenue occupies a site on t ...
to the northeast;
1585 Broadway 1585 Broadway, also called the Morgan Stanley Building, is a 42-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The building was designed by ...
to the south; and the
Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and is named for Longacre Square, the former ...
,
Ethel Barrymore Theatre The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 243 West 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1928, it ...
, and
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, formerly the Biltmore Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 261 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1925, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp i ...
to the southwest. Historically, the site had contained Churchill's Restaurant, which had been built in 1910 and redesigned as a theater in 1937. The theater later became an
adult movie theater An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films. Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the pat ...
called the Pussycat Cinema. Just prior to the hotel's construction, the site had contained six pornographic businesses owned by Michael Zaffarano, including the Pussycat Cinema and the Kitty Kat and Mardi Gras Topless Disco. The Pussycat had contained a large neon sign; David W. Dunlap of ''The New York Times'' described the sign as an "exuberant cynosure of a naughtier, gaudier, vanishing Broadway". There had also been some "pinball and souvenir shops" on the site. Songwriter
Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
had once also occupied a building on the site, as the offices of Irving Berlin Inc. had been at 1607 Broadway between 1921 and 1933.


Architecture

The hotel was designed by Alan J. Lapidus, son of modernist architect
Morris Lapidus Morris Lapidus (November 25, 1902 – January 18, 2001) was an architect, primarily known for his Neo-baroque "Miami Modern" hotels constructed in the 1950s and 60s, which have since come to define that era's resort-hotel style, synonymous wi ...
. The hotel is with 46 floors. In addition to the 795-key hotel, the building contains of ground-story retail space, of office space, and a 159-space parking garage. The
American Management Association The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world. It o ...
's Executive Conference Center, is on the sixth through eighth floors with a total of .
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and the
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also had space .


Facade

The facade was designed with glass and pink granite. Most of the facade is clad in reflective glass. The southeast and northeast corners are covered with granite, concealing the elevator shafts inside. The center of the Broadway facade contains a granite arch measuring tall. According to Lapidus, he wanted the arch's design to evoke the design of
Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
organs from the 1930s and 1940s. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' compared the hotel to a "giant jukebox". The hotel was designed to comply with city regulations that required deep setbacks at the base, as well as large illuminated signs. Accordingly, the hotel rooms are deeply set back from Broadway, and the first seven stories were initially planned to contain curving signs. Lapidus wanted to include
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displays, laser lighting displays, and waterfalls in the hotel's design. At the time of the hotel's construction,
light meter A light meter (or illuminometer) is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, an exposure meter is a light meter coupled to either a Digital data, digital or analog calculator which displays the correct shutter speed and f-nu ...
technology was not advanced enough to determine how much light these features emitted, so Lapidus left provisions so these features could be installed later. As built, the hotel had large billboards on its first 12 stories to comply with the regulations. At the time of the hotel's opening, these signs had an annual maintenance cost of $100,000. In 1995, a sign measuring was installed on the southern wall.


Features

When the hotel was being built, it was variously cited as containing 765, 770, 778, 780, or 785 rooms. A 1992 news article cited the hotel as having 770 rooms and 25 suites. The top four floors were known as the Crowne Plaza Club, which charged an additional fee. Following a renovation in 2008, the 46th story was turned into a "butler floor" with 16 rooms; the floor was so named because guests were given complimentary services such as laundry and private transportation. In addition, the 128 rooms on the 41st through 45th floors were collectively labeled the "concierge levels". At ground level, escalators led to a lobby and reception area on the second floor. The lobby area connected to a lounge and three restaurants. Holiday Inn originally reserved six floors for business patrons, who would pay an additional fee for extra services such as complimentary breakfast. To attract guests, each suite was designed with technologically advanced amenities of the time, such as modem connections and phone lines, as well as bathrooms clad with marble. In addition, there was a fitness center originally covering . The fitness center included a swimming pool measuring long. The fitness center was expanded to two floors in 1992. Following a renovation in 2008, the
New York Sports Club Town Sports International Holdings (or TSI Holdings) is an operator of fitness centers in Florida and in Puerto Rico. Its current brands include Liv Fitness Clubs, Palm Beach Sports Clubs, and Christi's Fitness. Former brands include New York ...
started to operate the fitness center. The building was designed with approximately of office space on nine of the lower stories. The office space was placed on the 6th through 14th floors, with hotel rooms above and below. When it opened, the hotel had a business center with computers,
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machines, fax machines, and a secretarial service. The hotel also had a ballroom and over 20 conference rooms, which covered . By 2015, the ballroom could be rented as workspace.


History

Times Square's Theater District had evolved into a business district after World War II. Nonetheless, there were relatively few large developments there in the mid-20th century. Between 1958 and 1983, only twelve buildings with at least of space were developed in the 114-block area between
Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...
, Times Square, Eighth Avenue, and
Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...
. By the 1980s, there was high demand for office space in New York City. During the decade, several hotels were developed around Times Square, as well as in New York City in general, as a result of growing tourism. These hotel developments were spurred by the success of the nearby
New York Marriott Marquis The New York Marriott Marquis is a Marriott hotel on Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Designed by architect John C. Portman Jr., the hotel is at 1535 Broadway, between 45th and 46t ...
, which had an occupancy rate of over 80 percent across nearly 2,000 rooms. In addition, the city government had enacted a
zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
bonus in 1982 for large new buildings in West Midtown, but the bonus was scheduled to expire in 1988.


Development

The block of Broadway between 48th and 49th Streets was owned by Michael Zaffarano, who for years resisted selling off his pornographic businesses, even as other landlords nearby were being cajoled to shutter their adult businesses. Zaffarano's son John inherited the sites in 1981 and was more agreeable to selling them after his father's death. Developer William Zeckendorf Jr. bought the sites in 1985 and planned to replace them with a hotel. The site had also been contemplated as a location for an office building. In August 1986, Zeckendorf announced plans for the hotel, to be designed by Alan Lapidus. The hotel was variously planned to be 44, 45, or 46 stories tall. At the time, the
New York City Planning Commission 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, ...
(CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square's northern section to include bright signage as well as deep setbacks. Accordingly, Zeckendorf planned a hotel with five types of signs, including a horizontal zipper and five-story-high displays. Zeckendorf demolished the pornographic businesses in October 1986 and developed the hotel with several partners. The
Holiday Corporation Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...
(later Holiday Inn) agreed to operate the hotel in October 1986, and the hotel became known as the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Times Square. It was to be the Holiday Corporation's first hotel in Manhattan and would be the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza chain's flagship. The hotel building was planned with of space, of which about would be reserved for offices. Zeckendorf received $227 million in financing for the hotel in August 1987, with the
Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five banks, it is the third-largest Canadian bank by deposits and ...
providing the loan. The CPC approved a planning regulation that September, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about five percent of their space for "entertainment uses", such as broadcast studios or ground-floor stores. The ordinance also required the developers of such buildings to install large signs facing Times Square. The hotel's design was directly influenced by this ordinance. When construction started in 1988, the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza was one of four large new office projects being erected around Times Square, as well as the largest of four hotels being erected there. By that July, the hotel's
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 ...
was up to the fourth story. The Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza planned to charge a minimum of $175 per night for a single room, making it more expensive than its competitors nearby. Nonetheless, Holiday Inn projected that the hotel would be profitable because the company already had a large number of frequent guests and business clients. The hotel was primarily targeted toward domestic business travelers, followed by international business clients and then leisure visitors. As such, management planned to set aside 20 percent of its rooms for business clients, twice as much as in comparable hotels. By 1989, the number of annual visitors to New York City had decreased for the first time in eight years due to the effects of
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. Nonetheless, the hotel's manager Michael Silberstein expressed optimism that the decline was temporary. Prior to the hotel's opening, Silberstein sent some of the hotel's employees to
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for training, saying that "Disney gives top-level service".


Opening and early years

The Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza opened on December 1, 1989, at a cost of $300 million. For the hotel's construction, Zeckendorf had received a municipal tax abatement that lowered his tax bill by several million dollars. Only 200 rooms were completed at the time, but the hotel's operators wanted to uphold their promise of an "autumn 1989 launch". According to Silberstein, 129 guests made reservations for New Year's Eve in the first twelve hours of its operation, even though the hotel did not conduct any advertising. It was one of several new hotels in the Times Square area with a combined 4,200 rooms, even as visitation rates in the city remained sluggish. While the hotel was operated by Holiday Inn (then by Bass plc after early 1990), the building itself was owned by several partners. A restaurant named Samplings Bar had opened in the hotel by April 1990, followed the next month by the Broadway Grill. The Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza was largely staffed by union workers, with the Broadway Grill being the only exception. Several months after the hotel opened, Zeckendorf had not leased the office space at the hotel's base. Furthermore, there were no tenants for the signage, so parts of the exterior were covered up. The amenity space was expanded by one story in 1992. The same year, the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza was selected to host delegates for the
1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries From February 10 to June 9, 1992, voters of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States, president in the 1992 United States presidential election. Despite scandals and questions ab ...
from Arkansas, the home state of
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
, who eventually won the
1992 United States presidential election The 1992 United States presidential election was the United States presidential election, presidential election, held in the United States, on November 3, 1992. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of governor of Arkansas B ...
. The "relatively unknown" hotel become more popular as a result. Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza hotels were rebranded as Crowne Plaza in 1994 and the hotel added a large sign on the southern wall in 1995, while the words "Holiday Inn" were removed from signage on the hotel's exterior. The hotel's office space had also remained empty until the same year, when the
American Management Association The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world. It o ...
indicated its intent to sign a lease there. The AMA was supposed to have been the original tenant of the space when the hotel was being developed. Among the advertisers on the Crowne Plaza's facade was the
Poland Spring Poland Spring is a brand of bottled water produced in Poland, Maine. It is named after the natural spring in the town of Poland, Maine that it was originally drawn from. It was a subsidiary of the private equity firm, BlueTriton Brands, formerly ...
Corporation, which in 1998 signed a three-year lease for a curved billboard at 48th Street and Broadway. The hotel also hosted events such as
spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...
expositions and media conventions. In addition, the Crowne Plaza was one of New York City's few hotels that accommodated sequestered jurors, as New York state law required jurors to remain sequestered during some types of criminal trials. The hotel's operators hired
Adam Tihany Adam D. Tihany (born: Transylvania in 1948) is a hospitality designer based in New York. He founded the multidisciplinary design firm Tihany Design in 1978, and is considered the origin of the title "restaurant designer". His firm has designed h ...
to redesign the interior in 1999. The modifications included a renovation of the bar, which cost $2 million. The Crowne Plaza's manager, Drew Schlesinger, said the hotel's operators allowed management to refurbish the hotel "in tune with the whole gentrification of Times Square".


Early 21st century

The hotel saw decreases in visitation following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001. Around the same time, the area evolved into a business district and there was growing demand for meeting space, as well as numerous new restaurants. Consequently, the Crowne Plaza closed two of its restaurants and replaced them with a ballroom.
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...
announced plans to open a ground-level store and add a 15-story billboard in 2002. The City Investment Fund, a joint venture between Morgan Stanley Real Estate and
Fisher Brothers Fisher Brothers is a real estate firm in New York City. It was formed by Martin Fisher in 1915, and later joined by his brothers Larry Fisher, Larry (born 1907) and Zachary Fisher, Zachary (born 1910). The Fisher family has substantial real estat ...
, acquired the Crowne Plaza in 2006 for $362 million. By then, rising room rates had led to decreases in visitation. Two years later, the hotel conducted an $85 million renovation on its lobby, restaurants, guest rooms, and meeting space. The renovation was conducted in stages, with the hotel remaining open throughout. The renovation was finished in 2009, and the Brasserie 1605 restaurant opened that April. After the renovation was completed, the Crowne Plaza saw a lower occupancy rate than other hotels, in part because of decreased tourism.
Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is an American real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. History Two Guys The origins of the ...
acquired the $34 million junior mortgage in May 2011 and paid down some of the debt that December. Vornado announced the next year that it would recapitalize the hotel and take over ownership of the of commercial space. Vornado bought City Investment Fund's ownership stake for $39 million in 2015, increasing Vornado's ownership stake from 11 to 33 percent. Vornado then acquired majority ownership by buying another 24-percent ownership stake for $95 million. Vornado sued Holiday Hospitality in July 2016 for $30 million, alleging that Holiday had run the hotel poorly. In April 2018, Vornado refinanced the hotel with a $250 million loan from
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
and
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
. The next year,
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and List of coffeehouse chains, coffeehouse chain. Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), who bought a yeast-raised re ...
began building a store in the retail space, which opened in September 2020. The Harrison, a restaurant by the BenMoha Group, was also announced for the hotel in 2019.


Financial issues and Hyatt conversion

The Crowne Plaza shuttered in March 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 ...
, and Vornado stopped paying rent on the ground lease. By that June, Vornado had gone into default on $330 million of debt. The senior debt was placed for sale, and Argent Ventures bought the $195 million senior mortgage that December for $90 million. The Crowne Plaza remained closed because it was in foreclosure. In September 2021,
SL Green Realty SL Green Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust that primarily invests in office buildings and shopping centers in New York City. As of December 31, 2019, the company owned 43 properties comprising 14,438,964 square feet, and was reported ...
bought a portion of the hotel site for $121 million from the Walber Broadway Company, which had owned that portion of the site since 1987. Vornado, which wanted to sell its stake to Penson, claimed that the purchase violated its
right of first refusal Right of first refusal (ROFR or RFR) is a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transactio ...
and sued SL Green. A New York state judge ruled in April 2022 that SL Green had to sell its stake to Penson. The hotel reopened in November 2022, and its owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the next month. In February 2023, a bankruptcy judge allowed the hotel's legal owner, Times Square JV LLC (controlled by Vornado), to have its creditors vote on whether the hotel should be sold or restructured. In August 2024, the investor Michael Loeb bought a 16% stake in the hotel from Argent. The hotel closed around January 2025 for renovations and is planned to reopen in mid-2025 as the Hyatt Regency Times Square. The Hyatt Regency is planned to have 795 rooms.


Reception

When the hotel was completed, Anne Kates of ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' wrote that the "sense of adventure" in Lapidus's design had received mixed reception.
Jerry Adler Jerry Adler (born February 4, 1929) is an American theatre director, producer, and film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his films '' Manhattan Murder Mystery'', '' The Public Eye'', '' In Her Shoes'', and ''Prime'', and for hi ...
of ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' wrote in 1989 that the hotel "may be the most gorgeous building in all Manhattan". Inside the hotel, ''New York Times'' critic Terry Trucco wrote that the interior was "pleasingly anonymous, done in the pale colors and bland furnishings seen in big American hotels from coast to coast", though she found her 44th-story hotel room to be cramped.
Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born December 4, 1950)Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C''Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Cfp.87on Paul Goldberger
of ''The New York Times'' felt that the signs were more prominent than the building, saying that "it looks vastly better at night, when it is ablaze with neon, than it does during the day, when it seems only like a failed effort at elegance". Goldberger further elaborated his dissent in a 1992 article, saying the facade "has ugly, unfinished brick waiting for a sign that may not come for years, a glaring offense at the pedestrian." Eve M. Kahn of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' described the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza as a "glitzy pink-granite-and-burgundy-glass jukebox" that sharply contrasted with the "restrained" design of 1585 Broadway. Architect
Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern (born May 23, 1939) is an American architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A. M. Stern Architects, also known as RAMSA. From 1998 to 2016, he was the Dean of the Y ...
said that he would "prefer to say nothing" of the hotel, the only Lapidus design that Stern had experienced firsthand.


See also

* List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan *
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 ...


References


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External links

* {{Broadway (Manhattan) 1989 establishments in New York City Broadway (Manhattan) Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Hotel buildings completed in 1989 Hotels established in 1989 Hotels in Manhattan Times Square buildings Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022