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The Great Tri-Pack Push-Back of 2009

Where: 39th St. [map], New York, NY, United States
April 27, 2009 at 4:06 PM | by Jenna | 0 Comments

The Times Square Tri-Pack hotel's opening has been pushed back. Insert sad trumpet sound effect here.

The lofty Gene Kaufman project on 39th Street in Manhattan — a Holiday Inn Express, a Candlewood Suites and a Hampton Inn that share a single structure with separate lobbies and entrances — was originally supposed to be opening, well, right around now.

Last we stalked, the Holiday Inn Express was taking bookings starting June 1st, but now the site is not accepting rezzies until August 2nd. Meanwhile, the Candlewood Suites site allows us to make rezzies for August 2nd and beyond — pushed back from the July opening date we saw last. And finally, the Hampton Inn's website lists September 1, 2009 as the date they'll start taking bookings.

This is all pretty shady, considering we stopped by the hotel a couple of months ago and the place looked like it was just about finished — but as we've learned from countless hotel delays past, you never know what could be causing the push-back or what's going on behind the scenes.

Got any dirt on the official opening date of these three hotels? What the heck is going on? Let us know.

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When is the Times Square Tri-Pack Hotel Going to Open?

Where: 39th St. [map], New York, NY, United States
February 25, 2009 at 11:01 AM | by Jenna | 3 Comments

Last year, we briefly mentioned architect Gene Kaufman's tri-pack hotel coming to 39th Street in Times Square: the plan wasn't exactly like one of those Yum Brands Taco Bell/Pizza Hut hybrid restaurant concepts where the brands share staff and public space (though it would be kinda fun to stay in a Ritz-Carlton while the kiddies stayed down the hall in a Courtyard by Marriott, no?) Rather, the idea of the Times Square tri-pack is just three hotel brands — a Holiday Inn Express, a Candlewood Suites and a Hampton Inn — sharing a single, 36-story building.

The Hampton Inn is moving in at 337 West 39th Street, the Candlewood at 339 and the Holiday Inn Express at 343 — and we'd heard some faint whispers on the tipline that the doors on all three would be open by the end of March.

But we checked the websites of all three hotels and none are accepting reservations anytime soon. The Hampton Inn will accept bookings for May 15th forward, the Holiday Inn Express will accept June 1st rezzies and the Candlewood lists June 9th.

Anyone got any dirt on the official opening date of the 39th Street tri-pack? Send 'em over.

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The Man Behind Manhattan's Newest Hotels

February 18, 2008 at 1:35 PM | by juliana | 2 Comments

If you haven't already heard, Manhattan is going hotel crazy. The Big Apple is going to add a much-needed 20,000 rooms by 2010 but those rooms aren't going to be found in the next Andre Balazs or Ian Schrager hotel.

Nope the big box chains are doing most of the adding here and they all have the same man doing their designs: architect Gene Kaufman.

In a profile with the NY Times, Kaufman points out his renderings for Sheraton, DoubleTree and a Marriott. In all, he is designing 36 new hotels in Manhattan.. To put in perspective:

On one block near Times Square -- 39th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues -- Mr. Kaufman, 50, has five hotels under construction.

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