Park Hyatt to debut Aug. 28
SINCE we were f irst to tell you — on Dec. 2, 2008! — that Extell’s One57 would include a 5star Park Hyatt Hotel, let us be f irst to tell you its opening date: Aug. 28.
That’s when the hotel is taking reservations for its first guests.
That’s right: the eyepopping, Christian de Portzamparcdesigned 1,005 foottall superlux condo tower at 135 W. 57th St. will finally gain a public heartbeat after years of sniping over its height, its architecture, tax credits for condo purchasers, and the Sandy caused crane accident that required evacuating the block.
The opening date comes to The Post from a deep source, which for once we’ll divulge: Park Hyatt’s website. Strangely, a rep for Gary Barnett’s Extell told us Hyatt would not share the date with us beyond a vague “summer.”
The site also divulged that “average daily” room rates will run from $855 per night for a Park Deluxe King room to $1,255 for a 1,016 squarefoot Park Terrace Suite.
The property boasts a “phenomenal spa” on the 25th floor, a 1,845squarefoot fitness center, a highend restaurant overseen by New York chef Sam Ha
zen, and an “exquisite bar” overlooking Carnegie Hall.
But our favorite part is this: According to the website, general manager
Walter Brindell, a “devout advocate for animals,” is “shaping the Park Hyatt to become a leading petfriendly hotel with unparalleled amenities for canine companions.”
Woof!
In the spirit of further shadowmongering, here are new factoids about two of the three other 57th Street supertowers — which all strike us as arresting skyline additions with a welcome public face at sidewalk level, but which some hysterically claim will enshroud Central Park in stygian darkness:
l In what its developers regard as a monumental milestone, CIM Group and
Harry Macklowe’s spectacular 432 Park Avenue has just risen past the halfway point — nearly 750 feet, en route to its eventual height of 1,396 feet.
Alas, the four handsome retail townhouses, which front on East 57th Street, have been reduced to zero feet.
Many projectwatchers had mistakenly believed the façades, offering 75 feet of precious sidewalkk frontage, would remain to provide an elegant face for glamorous new stores.
The developers are replacing them with a new, glassfronted retail structure slightly taller than the stillstanding adjacent ones, like Jacob & Co. next door, which declined to sell its properties.
The new retail facility will be physically connected to the Rafael Vi
ñolydesigned condominium tower behind it, but have no internal access.
Its landscaped rooftop will be used for private dining and events by 432 Park Ave. residents — two thirds of whom are “USbased” buyers.
Often overlooked is that 432 Park Ave. also includes the corner of Park Avenue and East 56th Street, the former Drake Hotel site.
CIM and Macklowe are putting up a freestanding retail box now rising as a steel frame.
l At a third project that’s got a much longer way to go, excavation proceeds apace on 111 W. 57th St.
That’s the superslender, 1,350footer previously identified in roughly 300 articles — inaccurately, its spokespersons say — as 107 W. 57th St.
The gently rippling tower designed by SHoP Architects has also been misrepresented in nearly every instance as a JDS project.
It is in fact a joint venture of Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group (PMG) and Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group, the same successful partnership behind the recordsetting Walker Tower condo conversion.
In a sign that things are getting ready to kick into high gear, PMG has just moved a team into the adjjacent 17story Steinway building, the recently designated landmark , which will be incorporated into the project as a part of its retail component. Steinway will line up at sidewalk level with a new glass at the tower’s base.
In our story last week about the successful leasing effort and repositioning of Meadow Partners’ 211 E. 43rd St., we inexplicably wrongly identified it as 211 E. 41st St.
The error was promptly corrected on nypost.com. Our apologies.