Revealed: 42-44 West 29th Street
BY: STEPHEN SMITH ON JULY 14TH 2014 AT 6:30 AM
42-44 West 29th Street
Another day, another cheap hotel going up on the West Side. Today’s street wall-wrecker sits at 42-44 West 29th Street, wedged in between two pre-war loft buildings on a block where retail mostly caters to wholesale clothing and accessory buyers.
Gene Kaufman is the architect of record, and the 18-story and 43,580-square foot building will contain 109 hotel rooms. Devli Properties — which really didn’t want to talk to Curbed about it two years ago — is the developer.
42-44 West 29th Street
The site should be destined for dense residential development, but with local politicians hostile to luxury housing, the area has held onto its outmoded M1-6 zoning, which only allows commercial uses. Since cheap hotels are the most profitable commercial use, these are the only things that are generally built in the vast M-zoned lands on the West Side.
42-44 West 29th Street
One day, perhaps rents in the area will rise to the point where new office buildings are the highest and best use, but sadly, today is not that day. The neighborhood’s inflexible zoning code is to blame for penny-pinching buildings and unsightly setbacks, and until policy changes, the blight will continue.
Per on-site signage, completion of 42-44 West 29th Street is slated for June of 2016.
