Grand Hyatt in Midtown East To Be Demolished and Replaced

NEW YORK CITY—TF Cornerstone and MSD Partners are redeveloping the Grand Hyatt at 109 E. 42nd St. The Wall Street Journal reported the development group is tearing down Donald Trump’s first major Manhattan development. In its place, they are erecting a 2 million square-foot, mixed-use development including offices, retail, improvements to the public infrastructure and a new luxury Grand Hyatt Hotel. The building is adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.

Reuters wrote that the original structure was a stone building dating back to 1919 that Trump bought in 1978, gutted, and re-skinned with a glass façade. He sold his share of the building in 1996, according to The Real Deal.

The plans are to construct state-of-the-art, Class A offices with advanced technology and efficient floorplans. Similar to products like SL Green’s One Vanderbilt or JP Morgan’s planned new headquarters, the building is offering many of the benefits of Hudson Yards’ and Lower Manhattan’s new construction—but in Midtown East.

The new development will support improvements at Grand Central Terminal including enhanced connections and circulation in the subway station, new subway entrances and design improvements. It will also provide an increase in tax revenue.

The developers will work out a comprehensive plan with the MTA to accommodate subway, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road passengers anticipating completion of the East Side Access Project. The City and State will need to approve the plan, subject to public review. The new development will benefit from greater density rights due to the East Midtown rezoning approved in August 2017.

MSD Partners is an investment advisor that manages the capital of the founder of Dell Technologies, Michael Dell, and his family. TF Cornerstone is a family-owned real estate business with properties in New York and Washington, DC.