Saturday, October 1, 2011

Marriott To Build New York's Tallest Hotel

Marriott International and Granite Broadway Development will develop New York City's tallest hotel complex, the Courtyard and Residence Inn Manhattan/Central Park, scheduled to open in 2013.

The soaring 68-story property will house two distinctly different hotels-- the 378-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and the 261-room Residence Inn by Marriott hotel--at Broadway and 54th Street. The multimillion-dollar project will be managed by Interstate Hotels and Resorts.

Designed by architect Nobutaka Ashihara, the building will rise 752 feet, nine inches high, making it the tallest stand-alone hotel building (without office or residential space) in New York.

“This project is a long time coming,” said Ronnie Gross, vice president of Granite Broadway Development. “The building will be absolutely stunning, and the hotels are the right lodging brands for this wonderful location."

"We are thrilled that this development is becoming a reality and will feature two of our strongest brands--Courtyard and Residence Inn--at such a premier location,” added David Marriott, chief operations officer, Marriott International.

 The hotels will share a main entrance and arrival lobby on 54th Street, with public areas for the Residence Inn on the 3rd floor and for the Courtyard on the 4th floor. Guest rooms for the Courtyard will be located on floors 6 through 32 and for Residence Inn on floors 36 through 64, with separate elevator banks to serve the guestrooms and public areas for each brand.

The project will include ground-floor retail space; a leased restaurant on the second floor; a lounge and terrace with outdoor seating and views of Broadway on the fifth floor; and a fitness center, for use by guests of both hotels, on the 34th floor.

Currently the tallest all-hotel building in New York is the 52-story Four Seasons New York at 682 feet tall.