![]() Grand Central Terminal opened on 42nd Street in 1913 as the third train station on that spot. In destroying the hotel, not only will Donald Trump’s first major Manhattan real estate project be erased, so too will one of the most important vestiges of the original Terminal City, a development that forever changed New York City real estate. In February, just one week after the largely ignored centennial of the Commodore, developer TF Cornerstone announced that the hotel will be torn down to make way for a “2 million-square-foot tower that includes office and retail space as well as a new Hyatt hotel.” Trump had played on the fears of city officials, in essence creating a crisis where none existed so that he could get his way.įor years, Trump and his admirers have cited the Commodore deal as a symbol of the real estate developer’s acumen, but that symbol will soon disappear. Trump’s approach worked, and the Commodore reopened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt, with a shiny glass facelift courtesy of architects Gruzen Samton and Der Scutt. Trump argued that if he was not allowed to take over the hotel, the Commodore would be “boarded up,” becoming not just an eyesore on 42nd Street, but a potent symbol that New York had hit rock bottom. All he needed in return was a sweetheart sale price from the railroad-under $10 million-and a 50-year tax abatement from the city. He had a plan to strip the Commodore down to its bones, rebuild it for $100 million, and get the Hyatt corporation-which then owned no Manhattan hotels-to run everything. Trump, whose father, Fred, had built upward of 22,000 units of housing in the outer boroughs, was itching not only to enter the Manhattan real estate market, but to do so as audaciously as possible. The previous April, a massage parlor in the hotel had been evicted on the grounds that it was a “ sex palace.” John Koskien, a representative of the hotel’s management company, said at the time that “the only thing that could save the Commodore is a major turnaround in labor and economic conditions”-or a knight in shining armor.Ī young real estate entrepreneur named Donald J. ![]() The 2,000-room Commodore, billed as the “most wonderful hotel in the world,” was part of a boom in accommodations in New York many of the same revelers had opened the Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue just four days earlier.īy 1976 the Commodore was rundown and a little seedy. On opening night, nearly 3,000 people gathered in the Moorish-inspired grand ballroom on 42nd Street-among them Mayor John Hylan and opera star Enrico Caruso-to celebrate. The hotel, a fading gem next to the even more dilapidated Grand Central Terminal, had opened on January 29, 1919, as an important part of the New York Central railroad’s ambitious Terminal City project. Louis, Missouri, settled his bill at the front desk of the Hotel Commodore and became the final guest to leave the premises. Hailed as a temple to the everyday commuter, this cathedral-like building was constructed to honor you, its visitors.On May 18, 1976, a tourist named W.J. Grand Central Terminal is one of the country’s great architectural achievements and New York City’s unofficial meeting place with thousands of people choosing to “meet me at the clock” –rendezvousing with friends and loved ones each day at the opal-faced Main Concourse Information Booth Clock. In 1978, architect Philip Johnson and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis campaigned to secure landmark status for the Terminal, ensuring the building would serve New Yorkers for generations to come. Opened to the public in February 1913, Grand Central Terminal is a story of great engineering, survival, and rebirth. This historic world-famous landmark in Midtown Manhattan is not simply a transportation hub - it’s also a shopping, dining, and cultural destination all under one magnificent roof. ![]() ![]() Be transported by the iconic beauty and lasting legacy of Grand Central Terminal.
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