TWA Terminal

TWA Flight Center Hotel Is Officially on the Road to Reality

By Amy Plitt@plitter Dec 14, 2015, 4:40pm EST

The conversion of the landmark TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport into a luxury hotel continues to inch forward: Developer MCR announced today that the public land review process (commonly known as ULURP) is officially underway, with the goal of securing approval from the relevant community boards, the City Planning Commission, and the City Council.

[Rendering via MCR Development.]

According to the land use review application, the community board review period for the hotel actually began several weeks ago, with the 60-day period ending on January 25. (A date for the actual community board hearing was, alas, not listed on the application.) The application includes items from the NYC Economic Development Corporation and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (which gave the Eero Saarinen-designed structure landmark status in 1994); once the community board weighs in on the proposal, it'll go to the borough president and the City Council for approval. But MCR CEO Tyler Morse sounded hopeful in a press release, noting the "groundswell of support" the project has gotten (and indeed, no fewer than 10 aviation and real estate trade groups lent their support in the same press release). "We are proud to play a part in revitalizing JFK and we look forward to continuing our work with the surrounding southeast Queens communities and the City as we begin the formal public review process," Morse stated.

The proposed hotel would have 505 rooms, and would leave the Saarinen head house intact; it would also have 40,000 square feet of event space, along with restaurants and bars, and an aviation museum. If all goes according to plan, it would be completed by 2018.

And because we can never write about the TWA Terminal without providing some architecture porn, here are some photos to ogle: