Gene Kaufman Architect designs 200,000 s/f 612-room DoubleTree

DoubleTree by Hilton New York – Times Square West, 350 West 40th Street - Manhattan, NY

Manhattan, NY The DoubleTree by Hilton New York – Times Square West, designed by Gene Kaufman Architect, has opened at 350 West 40^th St., between 8^th and 9^th Aves.

At 200,000 s/f and offering 612 rooms, the towering 35-story DoubleTree is the largest hotel Gene Kaufman Architect has ever designed and the largest to open in New York City in many years. Its arrival follows the groundbreaking, in November, of another Times Sq.-area hotel designed by the firm, a 518-rºoom, 35-story Hyatt Place at 350 West 39^th St.

The new DoubleTree sports a façade. A red brick masonry street wall wraps around a courtyard that transitions to a setback tower. The tower’s slate blue windows and metal work take advantage of the uninterrupted western exposure to capture the illumination of the sunsets.

Said Gene Kaufman, founder and principal of Gene Kaufman Architect: “We are tremendously proud of the DoubleTree. It is not only our biggest hotel project ever, but the final touch for a block that we have helped to transform from a backwater into a fully integrated part of the bustling Times Sq. area.”

As the westernmost hotel on 40^th St. the DoubleTree has upper-story guest rooms that offer views of the Manhattan skyline, as does the hotel’s 4,000 s/f Lovage Rooftop & Indoor Lounge. This glass-enclosed space has 17-ft. floor-to-ceiling windows 36 stories above Times Sq.

Gene Kaufman Architect’s interiors group, led by Natalia Tordorova, designed Lovage, which has a custom laser-cut mercury mirror brick wall, chainmail columns, walnut herringbone-and-polished cement floors, and chairs in stroke-painted velvet upholstery and Christian Lacroix fabrics. 

The interiors group also designed Magnolia Restaurant, a ground floor American bistro and bar with an expansive bar and 6,000 s/f of interior and exterior dining space. White brick, natural textiles, wood and polished brass are illuminated by sphere pendant lighting and complemented by camel-brown leather upholstery, basket-weave fabrics, and linens of plum and soft cream.

The two venues are the latest properties of Addison Hospitality Group, for which Gene Kaufman Architect’s interiors group previously designed the 5,000 s/f Monarch Rooftop & Indoor Lounge at the Marriott Courtyard Herald Square that opened in 2013.

“I am thrilled to once again team up with New York City’s leading design house, Gene Kaufman Architect,” said Ric Addison, president of Addison Hospitality Group.  “There is an abounding synergy between both of our brands, which was evident in our collaboration on Monarch Rooftop & Indoor Lounge in 2013. Their ideas are fresh, cutting edge, and visionary, and I am confident that Magnolia Restaurant and Lovage Rooftop & Indoor Lounge will reflect their talent and creative sense of style that is uniquely their own.” 

The new DoubleTree sits in a part of Manhattan containing eight other hotels designed by Gene Kaufman Architect. Seven of the hotels are on the single city block that runs from 39th St. to 40th St. and from 8th Ave. to 9th Ave. A ninth Gene Kaufman Architect hotel, a Hyatt Place at 350 West 39th St., broke ground on the south side of West 39th St. in November.

Together the 10 properties, six of which count Sam Chang as their developer, represent more than 3,000 guest rooms and 1 million s/f of hotel space. The hotels are:

• South Side of West 40th St., B/W 8th and 9th Aves.: Hilton DoubleTree (350 West 40th St.), IHG Staybridge Suites (340 West 40th Street), Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites(330 West 40th Street), Starwood Four Points by Sheraton (326 West 40th Street)

• North Side of West 39th St., B/W 8th and 9th Aves.:  IHG Holiday Inn Express (343 West 39th St.), IHG Candlewood Suites (339 West 39th St.), Hilton Hampton Inn (337 West 39th Street), Starwood Element (311 West 39th Street)

• South Side of West 39th St., B/W 8th and 9th Aves.:  IHG Holiday Inn (585 8th Avenue), Hyatt Place (350 West 39th St.) – Under construction

Sam Chang of the McSam Hotel Group is the developer of the new DoubleTree, for which Paul Vega’s VLDG, Inc., handled the interiors.

Gene Kaufman Architect designed two previous DoubleTree projects for Mr. Chang. In 2010 the firm’s 142,000 s/f, 412-room, 42-story DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York City-Financial District opened at 8 Stone St. A year earlier the 80,000 s/f, 241-room, 26-story DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York City-Chelsea opened at 128 West 29th St.