NEW YORK CITY Ark Partners announces the start of construction on a new hotel at Sixth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City. This Midtown Manhattan project is being designed and built from the ground up as a luxury lifestyle hotel with full-service amenities for business and leisure travelers.
The 250-key hotel, which is slated to open in 2013, marks Ark’s eighth hotel investment since 2002.
“In a time when new developments are uncommon in Manhattan, we are beginning construction of what we know will be an exciting new hotel that will take its place among an elite group in the city,” says Ark President John Yoon. “This hotel will be a spectacular addition to the 57th Street corridor, Carnegie Hall and the extended Columbus Circle neighborhood, with design and décor elements that evoke classic New York style and an enhanced focus on upscale lifestyle amenities.”
Designed by the New York City-based firm Roman and Williams, the 30-story, 130,000-sq.-ft. building will feature a grand, double-height ground-floor lobby that includes a glamorous restaurant and bar. About half of its room inventory will offer Central Park-facing views.
“This project was negotiated in 2007 and closed in 2008 in anticipation of an economic crash and probable illiquidity in the debt markets, therefore suggesting to us a likely reduction of projected hotel supply for New York City,” says Ark Chairman and CEO Brad Reiss. “We are confident that our timing could not be better, and we are fully prepared to introduce a luxurious lifestyle hotel that accents the prime location in which it sits.”
Roman and Williams has designed a building with disciplined and reductive architecture that gives it structure and clarity when viewed from afar and from the street. The façade is defined by two “muscular shoulders” made of iron-spot black brick that define, frame and ground the building’s front elevation. Glazed black brick and metal windows comprise the bulk of the façade.
Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of Roman and Williams have described their design for the hotel as being “reminiscent of a bygone era in hospitality that is absolutely befitting its location on this iconic street.”
Guestroom and public areas will feature rich woods, understated yet grand décor elements and a nod to Mid-Century-Modern design. The material palette is restrained, earthy and sensual in the common areas of the hotel, and guest rooms have a functionality and airiness of a loft with simple, functional and detailed furnishings.
The bathrooms are inspired by those in classic 1930s New York apartment buildings, with marble and tile detailing and custom fittings. With floor-to-ceiling windows, outdoor terraces, soaring high ceilings, sweeping views of Central Park from upper floors and a restaurant and bar under the helm of a to-be-announced noteworthy and acclaimed restaurateur, the new hotel will emerge at the forefront of bespoke upscale hotels in Manhattan.