Leading off the top five in our year-end countdown of the tallest construction projects underway in New York is 740 Eighth Avenue, a planned 1,067-foot hotel and observation tower in Midtown, Manhattan. Designed by ODA with SLCE Architects as the architect of record and developed by Extell, the 52-story supertall will span 776,000 square feet with 825 hotel rooms on the lower half and a public observatory with a drop ride attraction on the upper levels. The project will also feature retail space, two upper restaurant floors, and a pool deck. Lendlease is the general contractor, WSP is the structural engineer, and Ancora Engineering is handling the excavation and foundations for the property, which is located between West 45th and 46th Streets on the border of Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen.
The site was still being prepared at the time of our last update in October, but work has quickly ramped up. Recent photos show a team of excavators unearthing the plot, with the eastern end dug well below street level. Based on the rapid progress so far, it’s possible that foundation work could reach street level by the spring of 2023.
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
740 Eighth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young
No official renderings have been released apart from the schematic diagram posted on site, which depicts a highly idiosyncratic design with a stem-like protrusion capped with a slanted crown. Three holdout low-rise buildings are surrounded by the base of the skyscraper. The tower then rises conventionally up to its midpoint, where a setback then gives way to a slender column that gradually widens as it approaches the pinnacle. The lower half appears to feature a more typical curtain wall while the upper half is shown clad in a distinctive corrugated façade.
The hotel and retail components will be housed in the lower floors, with the restaurant, observatory, and drop ride occupying the upper section. The top level of the observatory is planned to include an exclusive VIP space.
It was last reported that the drop ride will consist of three enclosed 260-foot tracks within the northern, southern, and western sides of the building’s stem. Each ride vehicle will carry up to four passengers on multiple lifts and free fall drops over a 90-second experience.
An anticipated completion date for 740 Eighth Avenue is posted on site for the second quarter of 2027.
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This is amazing design that now on fantasy, but excavation underway for its fantasy is going into reality. Corrugated facade on the upper half of the supertall so distinctive, I never seen structure with contentions like this before; beautiful facade: Thanks to Michael Young.
Amazing design? Seriously? Amazing ugly maybe…
The most ridiculous building under construction in New York.
Agreed.
All that’s missing is a Merry-Go Round.
I wonder how Summit at One Vanderbilt will respond when their glass elevator ride has this as their competition
Looks like a giant vacuum cleaner
Or one of those TNT detonators haha
To get an idea how large this hotel will be, look directly east in a few of the pictures to the building on Broadway between 45th and 46th Street. You will see the back of Marriott Marquis. Not in any way a small hotel.
Beautiful pictures by Michael Young. He is very talented with drone photos.
The bulk of this building is practically going to be the same size as the Marriott Marquis haha. Crazy to imagine it’s going to soon be a reality
Looks like the beginning of the Las Vegas-ifcation of the Times Square area, and I say let’s go with whatever works! (there are no vacant storefronts along the Vegas Strip, unlike what we’ve got now in that neighborhood)
Two very different cities with two different very different models of growth and development. The Vegas Strip was almost solely built for casinos while that portion of 8th Avenue was historically low-rise residential and commercial and retail developments. So of course there are no vacant storefronts on the Strip because it wasn’t really built for retail until casinos added their own (indoor) shopping malls like the Forum at Caesars or others at Bellagio and Wynn.
This is comparing apples to oranges and not really a justifiable comparison
Stanley, of course there are no vacant storefronts on the Vegas strip!!! Retail is not what made the city what it is today, it’s casinos.
(A former card dealer at the Stardust, now Resorts World)
The universal business model of any casino is not focused on street life. It’s about creating the best visual distractions and tactics to attract peoples attention and keep you gambling INSIDE as long as possible. Vegas had been largely car-oriented for most of the 20th century until the family-friendly period of the 90s that encouraged building sidewalk displays for a growing pedestrian presence between hotels like with the Bellagio fountains, the pirate battle at Treasure Island, or The Mirage volcano. Nonetheless, its why casinos traditionally built such oversized neon signs and billboards that you can see from miles away. Maybe you’re too young to have visited Las Vegas during the Rat Pack days and the 1980s, but look up old photos of the iconic hotel signage for the Stardust, Sands, and Dunes and it’s why they were also paired with large parking lots right next to them and the entrance. In those days, the only time you’d be outside for extended periods is to either swim or sunbathe. So unless you are already within the hotel property, you would not want to be walking and shopping around for hours OUTSIDE in the middle of a desert getting sunburnt and passing out from dehydration.
And I agree with Matthew’s argument; Vegas is NOT New York City in the way you described vacant storefronts.
So what about the elevator ride at Summit, or City Climb at the Edge? Those came before this got started…
Comparing New York City retail space to so called “vacant Las Vegas Strip retail space” doesn’t make sense, nor does the latter even exist on the main part of the strip 🤷♂️
Probably shouldn’t try the drop ride immediately after dining in one of their restaurants.
The taudry porn theatres that used to line that strip had a more pleasing aesthetic….
You miss them don’t you? 😂
Oh, I’d forgotten about this.
Please no.
Right? Sketch Up in unauthorized hands should be outlawed.
The only beautiful building in these photos is the Paramount Hotel, which looks similar to
The Plaza! Amazing how so many modern buildings shown are all vying for attention…
“NOTICE ME, NOTICE ME, NO ME 1ST”!
Now comes a giant blight on the skyline. 🤮
I agree, maybe they should add a glass bottomed “Merry Go Round”, suspended over the side on a crane with fireworks every 15 minutes!
And how about, exterior glass elevators? remote controlled slide out suites with bungee platforms?
Don’t think someone at Extell hasn’t considered these ideas and more!
I wish I could time travel back to visit NYC in the 1920’s and 1930’s, to see the old skyline from black and white photos! 🤗
I suppose that now with so many observation decks around Manhattan vying for tourist dollars, this developer decided the only way to attract them is make their deck so bizarre (and ugly) that tourists won’t be able to resist it. I still can’t quite believe this is real. The 60 year old Space Needle should have been the inspiration here.
Maybe it was – but just uglified. And yes, bizarre.
It will have a drop ride for those of you that dont know.
I wonder what company will manufacture the drop ride.
This just doesn’t seem like something that could actually get greenlit. I really don’t know what to think.
That ride is a waste of valuable floor space.
Or better yet just eliminate that whole top piece altogether. I think we could all live with just seeing the hotel portion.
My initial and only reaction to the design: WTF?!
100%
Did I miss it? Was there a contest for designing the ugliest building? This one obviously was the winner.
At least it’s in Times Square, where anything cliche, garish and tacky is acceptable, including this
Riight? Uncontested winner…
Well, 375 Pearl Street (the Verizon Building) is very happy about this new construction, it will no longer be considering the ugliest building in the city.
The architects of this monstrosity should lose their license.
The Pan-Am (MetLife) Building still ranks high for being one of the ugliest (if not THE ugliest) of monstrosities in NYC. It forever blocked the view down Park Avenue, destroying the delightful vista of the New York Central (Helmsley) Building and Grand Central Terminal.
It’s been 60+ years—let it go.
The photos don’t show it, but there is a holdout property on 8th Ave in the middle of the block-Playwrites Restaurant.
I wonder how that will play out…
Could this design be any uglier! Seriously.
This is hands down THE ugliest building design I have seen on YIMBY until today. The architect who came up with this monstrosity should lose their license…. Seriously, how on Earth did THIS get green-lighted?
A pile of vomit on the sidewalk is more attractive then the design of this building.
What’s the name of the hotel