Photo by Jeff Goldberg/Esto

In the heart of the Times Square Theater District, this 371,000-sq-ft, 70-story tower sits on a 10,000-sq-ft plot of land. The tower is the tallest stand-alone hotel in the Western Hemisphere with a floor-to-area ratio of 30:1—among the highest ever achieved in New York City. The tower houses two hotels, one on the lower floors and another above.

The project includes more than 70,0000 sq ft of public space and amenities such as restaurants, retail, meeting rooms and conference centers, a business center and lounges. The hotels share a common entrance lobby area, fitness club, laundry, bar areas and outdoor terraces.

Judges noted that the team had to overcome some daunting logistical hurdles as the project, already in a tight, midtown location, was under construction at the same time as three other major buildings on the same block. Other than the World Trade Center site, this block has the highest concentration of construction in the city, with a concrete tower hotel rising simultaneously on the Marriott's western property line and a subway line just 100 ft away along its eastern border.

Given the dense space, the team took extra precautions and installed a cocoon protection system that rose with the building and enclosed the stripping floor, formwork and above-deck areas.

The team also developed a logistics plan with the construction managers of the other buildings under way on the block. The plan addressed numerous concerns including hours of operation, which had to be coordinated with the matinees of a nearby theater, as well as ingress and egress site locations and delivery times and routes for materials and equipment.

The building was finished under budget and two months ahead of the original schedule.

One judge described the design of the building as "very modern and sleek."

Key Players

Owner Granite Broadway Development LLC

Construction Manager CNY Builders

Lead Designer Nobutaka Ashihara PC

Structual Engineer WSP

MEP Engineers Edwards & Zuck PC

Interior Bill Rooney Studio Inc.

Exterior Israel Berger & Associates

Geotechnical/Civil/Site Engineer & Survey Langan Engineers

Lighting Gary Gordon LLC

Elevator Jenkins & Huntington