Manhattan’s Midtown is in a real estate crisis. Office vacancies are high, rents have been plummeting, and tenants are moving to New Jersey. A combination of outdated building stock, the economic recession, and a lack of amenities in the neighborhood have transformed Midtown from a vibrant business hub into an area of post-recession decline. Class A office vacancies have been stagnant at around twenty-two percentfor the past five years. This translates to about 17 million square feet of empty space in Midtown.
With over 17 million square feet of empty space located minutes away from Times Square, Broadway and Central Park, we believe Midtown represents an incredible opportunity for hospitality to transform otherwise empty space into a vibrant hub of entertainment, amenities, and lifestyle.
The design of the Pop-Up Hotel focuses on the transformation of empty Class A office spaces into hospitality spaces. The setup is simple. We intend to partner with various owner/leasing agencies around Midtown to identify buildings in need of revitalization. All the parts needed to outfit a hotel for a week is trucked onto site and setup. The Pop-Up Hotel website and app is updated to reflect the newest location of the hotel and viral marketing begins. Reservations are taken and parties are held. The office building receives much needed publicity, the hotel is taken down after four weeks and the kit of parts moves on to the next office building to occupy. Revenue is generated and shared amongst the hotel operators and buildingownership.
Like ordering from a restaurant menu, one can pick and choose from a variety of experiences. Hotel furnishings and other necessary items are then easily shipped in a standardized box to any office location in the city. Standardization of these shipping modules and the furnishings it holds allow for a high degree of flexibility. Because these programmatic modules are quickly and easily interchangeable, the possible resulting combinations are almost endless.
A uniquely urban experience, the Pop-Up hotel will feature a variety of amenities and rooms catering to a wide diversity of clientele. The flexibility of the existing open office plan on multiple levels allows for anassorted range of programming to suit various lifestyle choices. Reception is located on the ground level and extra lobby space can be used for a café /lounge. Hospitality amenities such as exercise rooms, spas, libraries, and lounge areas are located in available floors closest to the reception. Two types of hotel room layouts will be utilized; traditional hotel room layouts and a luxury hostel style plan would be distributed within empty floors within the building. Finally entertainment, dining, and a bar would be located within the higher levels of the office tower.
The Pop-up Hotel offers a completely customizable alternative to the traditional hotel experience. At its core, it is designed to be a means of urban revitalization, an economic catalyst, as well as an active community partner. The focus of the Pop-Up Hotel is to optimize the user experience. In a culture where the smart phone is ubiquitous, extending the powerful tools of user interface and customization to the built environment has the potential to create a vibrant, continually self-refreshing social condition that was never-before possible.We strongly believe the Pop-Up Hotel to be a transformative experience for both the building and more importantly, the hotel guests.
Data provided by Crain’s New York, Optimal Spaces, and Bloomberg Business Week
