The Hard Rock Hotel at 159 West 48th Street is the newest hotel to open in Midtown, Manhattan’s iconic Times Square district. Designed by SLCE Architects and developed by Extell and Hard Rock International, the 442-foot-tall (134.7-meter-tall) 291,000-square-foot (27,034-square-meter) structure features 446 rooms and welcomed its first guests earlier this week. The rectangular reinforced concrete edifice is located by the corner of West 48th Street and Seventh Avenue and was built by AECOM Tishman. Rooms start at US$475 per night.
Photos looking up at the façade show the look of the reflective floor-to-ceiling glass panels on the main southern elevation facing West 48th Street above the multi-story podium, which is clad in stone paneling with an irregular grid of tall, narrow windows. A Hard Rock logo hangs above front doors and sidewalk canopy. At the top is a 3,300-square-foot (306-meter), two-story glass-enclosed Rock Star Suite that comes with a 1,600-square-foot (148-square-meter) outdoor terrace and its own direct access to the rooftop bar called RT60 on the 34th story.
Nearby is the famous intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, known as the Crossroads of the World, which is seeing a resurgence of domestic and international tourists coming to New York City. The Hard Rock Hotel is one of several projects that was conceived and underway before the COVID-19 pandemic that is transforming this relatively small but dense section of Midtown with new hotel construction. Others underway include TSX Broadway at 1568 Broadway and a trio of Hilton hotel brands at 150 West 48th Street, which will join the recently finished RIU Hotel at 145 West 47th Street and The Civilian at 305 West 48th Street.
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