Eighth Avenue around 40th Street is not the prettiest part of Midtown (hello, Port Authority!), and a bland new hotel won't help its aesthetics, but sadly, that's what the area is getting. New York YIMBY reports that yet another Gene Kaufman hotel is in the works, located at 585 Eighth Avenue. Plans filed with the Department of Buildings show that the lot is L-shaped, and it will front on both Eighth Avenue and West 39th Street. A rendering posted on the construction site shows that the ground floor will be set back, breaking the street wall; the higher floors are not visible, but you can still tell it will not be what one might call pretty (or even not bad). It will rise 26 stories to 260 feet and hold 199 hotel rooms. An opening date is estimated for 2015.
The long-stalled property made headlines last summer when a construction worker fell through the roof of an abandoned building that used to occupy the site. He plummeted three stories, but thankfully survived. In 2010, the owner of the neighboring building, 575 Eighth Avenue, sued the developer, which was then Sam Chang's McSam Hotel Group. The most recent permits don't list Chang's name, so it's unclear if he is still involved with the project, but he bought the site back in 2006.
· Construction Update: 585 8th Avenue [NY YIMBY]
· Construction Worker Falls Through Roof of Eighth Avenue Building [DNAinfo]
· Olmstead sues Hersha for $10M at West 38th hotel site [TRD]
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