NEW YORK | 175 Park Avenue (Grand Hyatt) | 1,575 FT | 86 FLOORS

[NYguy]

A walk around the Grand Hyatt...


MAY 3, 2020


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[NYguy]

Still wondering if they may be considering an early closure, like Vornado is considering with the Hotel Penn. There was an agreement with the workers here that would have to be revisited. Even if the hotel re-opens at it's scheduled time, by the time tourism gets back up to speed, it could be time to close for the rebuild. Meanwhile, 42nd Street is a shadow of itself, but we all know it's a temporary blip.



https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5TpntH4gt/

[mrnyc]

freakish views. empty streets. cabs waiting for no one.

and that hideous yuppie era hotel that cant go away soon enough.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

freakish views. empty streets. cabs waiting for no one.

and that hideous yuppie era hotel that cant go away soon enough.

Yeah it is weird, and something we may never see again. That's why I was glad I was able to get at least some photos. Grand Central itself has always been one of those special buildings in the city to me. So much history there, both before and after the current building. I was hoping to get some nice, rare views from inside, but much of it is closed off (like Penn) making it hard to do. The GC market is surprisingly still open, filled with the smell of fresh fish. I wondered who was still buying it. I also wonder if it will need to close temporarily while a major new tower is built right next to it. A couple of the GC passageways go right through the Hyatt itself. I'm assuming those will close for construction, but maybe not.

Anyway, a couple of quick shots of the empty concourse...


May 3, 2020

[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2020/05/12/hyatt-...ffs-worldwide/

Hyatt Hotels announces 1,300 layoffs worldwide





By Reuters
May 12, 2020

Hyatt Hotels said late Monday it would lay off 1,300 people globally as it tries to cope with the coronavirus crisis, which has virtually halted global travel by keeping people indoors.

Hyatt said it had also cut pay for senior management, board members and all employees in corporate offices as part of a restructuring, adding that the staff who were being laid off would be eligible for severance pay.

“Due to the historic drop in travel demand and the expected slow pace of recovery, Hyatt has made the extremely difficult decision to implement layoffs and restructure roles across its global corporate functions, beginning June 1, 2020,” Hyatt said in a statement.

The company declined to break down the job cuts by region.

The hotel chain reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss last week and suspended its dividend and share buyback program.

It had 55,000 employees as of Dec. 31, 2019, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

[Nightsky]

Too bad if it will be torn down. The Grand Hyatt is a classic NY hotel to me, had memories of visiting it during my first visit to the States in 1998. I actually liked the mirror exterior, the hanging skybar and the lobby. Made an illustration of it for SSP diagrams.

But that is of course only a parenthesis, to see these crowded streets abandoned is of course very eerie and the whole hotel industry is at stake. Many classic hotels could be shut down during this crisis. Let's hope NY and the rest of the world will find away to cope with this damn virus soon.

[JMKeynes]

I really hope that this POS and the Park Lane never reopen and are razed ASAP.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

I really hope that this POS and the Park Lane never reopen and are razed ASAP.

Add the Hotel Pennsylvania to that list of disgraceful properties.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Add the Hotel Pennsylvania to that list of disgraceful properties.

There’s a chance they’re both down for the count.

[Sky88]

Originally Posted by NYguy

There’s a chance they’re both down for the count.

And about the Roosevelt Hotel?

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by Sky88

And about the Roosevelt Hotel?

I like the Roosevelt and hope it's not going away any time soon.

I think that the Hotel Penn will remain for a while. That area is still in transition. It's an armpit.

[Crawford]

The Roosevelt is a dump, and should be redeveloped in the next cycle. I believe it has Qatari wealth fund ownership.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Nightsky

Too bad if it will be torn down.

Takes all kinds I guess...

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

I like the Roosevelt and hope it's not going away any time soon.

I think that the Hotel Penn will remain for a while. That area is still in transition. It's an armpit.

The Grand Hyatt had only about a year or two left anyway. The Hotel Penn is a placeholder, Vornado content to keep it open so long as it was doing steady business. The hotel business in the city is gone for now, and particularly for these large hotels, could take quite a while before we can even begin to suggest it’s close to being back. That will have a big bearing on what Vornado decides to do. They’ve continued to sign leases in surrounding properties, and we’ve all seen the transformation of the Hudson Yards in what is still largely a wasteland. The Hotel Penn is still the most prime development site (other than the Grand Hyatt) in town. If it’s no longer feasible to keep the Hotel Penn open, it will close.

[NYguy]

Everywhere you turn around this site, it's surrounded by a great New York building. Just one of the reasons they have to get it right here.


https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...?adppopup=true

[NYguy]

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/ne...152502587.html

Times Square’s Empty Rooms Signal Reckoning for NYC Hotels

Patrick Clark
May 15, 2020

The global hospitality industry is facing the worst downturn in its history, and New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., is poised for a painful recovery. Even when travel resumes, the Manhattan hotel market’s reliance on international travel and large conferences will make it hard for owners to cover debt payments and labor costs.

Even before the pandemic, Manhattan hotel owners complained that new development and competition from Airbnb made it difficult to boost prices. Revenue per available room, which measures pricing and occupancy, fell 4% in 2019, according to lodging data firm STR, the worst performance since 2009.

Soft results had pushed owners to consider other uses for their properties prior to the current crisis. Hyatt Hotels Corp. struck a deal in February 2019 to transfer control of the Grand Hyatt New York to an investor group that planned to demolish the property and replace it with a mixed-use tower that would include a smaller hotel.

The pandemic has only bolstered the case for converting hotel properties. Roughly 60% of New York’s 700 hotels have suspended operations, said Vijay Dandapani, CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City. And while medical personnel and government relief workers are filling beds in hotels that remain open, they’re paying discounted prices and won’t stick around for long.

Restarting a shuttered hotel will require owners to invest in marketing and sanitation. Dandapani predicts one in five New York properties will never reopen – a group that Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steve Roth has said could include the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Apartment investors are also exploring the idea of adapting lodging properties, though the prospect is complicated by construction costs and severance deals for hotel workers.

[NYguy]

Not sure if they would put an observation deck here (they might). But if they do, it could be one in a string of 3...

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...&postcount=312

[NYguy]

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...?adppopup=true

[JMKeynes]

Mr. Gorbachev, "Tear down this [Pos]!"

[SkyHigher]

I could see a 1500ft+ 200 Amsterdam Avenue like design here. That way it doesn't fully block views of the CB from the west.....

*Oh and an outside observation deck at the top