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Currently on the rise in Midtown Manhattan, 20 Times Square has reached above the 20-storey mark. The 42-storey, 452-room EDITION Hotel by Marriott is now roughly halfway to its full height of 517 feet at NYC's most famous intersection. The demolition of the 1909-built, ten-storey office tower at 701 7th Ave that was the second-oldest building in Times Square has left the area with just three pre-war structures.
The base of the retail component of the new tower designed by PBDW Architects for The Witkoff Group will be fronted on two sides by a massive, 18,000-square-foot LED sign, a high-tech addition that will be a much more dynamic solution than the previous billboard treatment that covered the historic facade of the former structure.
A central fixture of Times Square, and thus an integral part of a streetscape that has long been synonymous with bright lights and a cheery but chaotic commercial collage of billboards and LED screens, this latest addition will up the ante in terms of the neighbourhood's recent high-tech transformation.
Rising from the 269,769-square-foot retail podium, the hotel portion of the development will span from the 14th to 40th floors. The EDITION Hotel by Marriott will bring some much-needed hospitality capacity to the neighbourhood, as Times Square is among the most popular tourist destinations in New York. Viewed below, the finished product will fit well into the surrounding streetscape, with the modern glass tower rising far above the LED feature down below.
Once complete, 20 Times Square will be a welcome addition to the area. The possibilities posed by the considerable size of the LED sign will allow for a range of commercial and other uses, and the tower base will soon become a staple of the neighbourhood.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
