JFK's Landmark TWA Terminal to Become Site of $265M Hotel

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has picked a partnership between JetBlue and MCR Development to transform the former TWA Flight Center at JFK into a $265 million world-class hotel - the airport's only on-site hotel.
 

The distinctive building, which is next to JetBlue’s flagship T5 terminal, was designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen and built in the early 1960s.
 
The project is expected to break ground on a six-acre site next year and generate 3,700 jobs by time it is completed in 2018.

JFK is one of the few major U.S. airports without an on-site hotel.

JetBlue and MCR will build a pair of six-story hotels with 483 rooms and 22 suites, 40,000 square feet of meeting space, up to eight restaurants and an observation deck from the ground up next to the terminal.

The complex will feature an energy management system that will allow the building to generate its own power.

The developers will refurbish the interior of the landmarked building to become the property’s main lobby, with the rest of the hotel set back from it in a pair of new six-story buildings.

The iconic building, with its wing-shaped roof and expansive walls of windows showcasing jets departing and arriving, has been closed since 2001.

Beyer Blinder Belle and Lubrano Ciavarra Architects have been hired to design the Flight Center hotels.

The terminal would be JetBlue’s first hotel project open to the public. The airline recently developed a boutique hotel in Orlando, Florida, for use only by its employees. 

Other hotels are located just outside the airport and employ shuttles to ferry passengers to and from the airport. The vast majority of the world's major airports have hotels on their grounds.

Manhattan-based MCR, which owns and operates 89 hotels around the country, will own 95 percent of the project.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to charge the partners a fixed rent, which it estimates will total $70 million over the life of the lease, according to a statement from the agency.

“First-class hotels are a mark of a 21st-century airport and JFK and LaGuardia are among the very few major airports without this amenity, Joe Sitt, the chairman of the airport advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance, said in a statement.

“We applaud the Port Authority for moving ahead with plans to develop the iconic TWA Flight Center, because it's past time for a smart use for the building and for an on-airport hotel available to millions of JFK passengers.”

The TWA Flight Center was built in 1962 and served as the airline’s terminal until 2001, when it declared bankruptcy and stopped operating. The center was too small for modern aircraft and couldn’t accommodate enough passengers, making it unsuitable as an airline terminal, according to the Port Authority.

The now-vacant building was declared a national historic landmark in 2005 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The new hotel is projected to open in late 2018.


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