The high-profile block of West 42nd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues has long needed an upgrade, according to the New York Post, and after tracking developments on the block it’s clear that progress is being made.
The partnership of Highgate Holdings, Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisitions has completed interior demolition work in its bid to revert the former Knickerbocker Hotel, at 1466 Broadway, back to a luxury hotel from Class B office space. Highgate has filed paperwork to construct model hotel rooms on the ground floor. Next door, at 136 West 42nd Street, the partnership is slated to begin construction in April on a hotel it will sell to Diamond Rock Hospitality. But the partners will hold on to the ground-floor retail and market it through Cushman & Wakefield.
Finally, Blackstone is in the process of demolishing the low-rise building at 120 West 42nd Street, just west of The Public Plaza it erected next to 1095 Sixth Avenue. It will give way to a cubic retail structure covered in glass. [Post, 1st item]