Posted Dec 16, 2025, 5:51 PM
|
 |
New Yorker for life
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 56,641
|
|
https://w42st.com/post/from-casino-clash-to-plan-b-sl-green-pivots-on-the-future-of-1515-broadway/
From Casino Clash to Plan B — SL Green Pivots on the Future of 1515 Broadway
by Phil O'Brien
December 16, 2025
Quote:
|
With New York State awarding its three downstate casino licenses to projects in Queens and the Bronx — and none in Manhattan — SL Green now plans to transform 1515 Broadway, above the Minskoff Theatre, into a massive hotel and entertainment complex instead.
|
Quote:
In September, Holliday was visibly furious after the Community Advisory Committee voted down SL Green’s Caesars Palace Times Square proposal, partnered with Caesars Entertainment and JAY-Z’s Roc Nation.
Calling the outcome “a despicable display of cowardice,” Holliday accused elected officials of denying the city jobs and investment. A month later, he was calmer but still defiant, telling investors the casino idea was “not completely dead.”
|
Quote:
That door now appears firmly shut. “All of the Manhattan proposals were not accepted,” Holliday told investors this month. “They all failed. It’s a great loss for the city — but we’re going to move past that.”
The centerpiece of SL Green’s new plan is to convert 32 office floors into 992 hotel rooms — a relatively straightforward change, because of the building’s layout, explained Executive Vice President Brett Herschenfeld.
|
Quote:
One of the most immediate changes could be highly visible to anyone standing in Times Square.
SL Green now controls the windows above the Minskoff Theatre that currently display The Lion King signage — a detail Herschenfeld emphasized repeatedly.
“We now control the rights to all the windows showing The Lion King advertisement,” he said. “How can we create enormous value in its place? Very simple.”
The company plans to wrap those windows in massive digital screens, similar to the Marriott Marquis next door.
Herschenfeld called Times Square “the most robust advertising market in the world,” and added: “All I have to do is reprogram the screens and we have the best signage at the center of the bowtie.”
|
Quote:
Beyond the hotel and signage, SL Green is floating a suite of entertainment ideas that echo — but stop short of — the casino vision. Plans include a new SUMMIT observation deck at the top of 1515 Broadway, similar to the wildly popular SUMMIT One Vanderbilt (which SL Green developed and runs), as well as immersive attractions at street level.
“Virtual ride technology has become so real that you feel like you’ve traveled the distance of a Coney Island roller coaster,” Herschenfeld said, “but yet you remain in the confines of a 10,000-square-foot room.”
With podium floor plates of roughly 60,000 square feet, he suggested SL Green could build “an entire theme park of the future at the base of 1515.”
|
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
|