The Virgin Hotel New York that will soon be built at the corner of 30th Street and Broadway will change forever the stretch of Broadway that runs from Madison Square Park to Greeley Square. If the renderings are to be trusted, it will be a magnificent piece of work, says James Gardner of The Real Deal magazine.
But two things can go wrong in a building like this. First, it can be so poorly made that, even if technically it conforms to all or most of the details of the rendering, the totality of the result will look surprisingly unimpressive.
Second, the skill of the artist who created the rendering may surpass the skill of the architects who designed the structure.
This 38-story hotel will surely be better than what the charmless old buildings it replaces. It is designed by VOA Architecture and developed by the Lam Group.
The Virgin Hotel arrives in an area that, likely due to zoning issues, has become far more welcoming of hotels than of the residential developments that have taken over the rest of the city. It is one block north of Ace New York and two blocks north of the Nomad Hotel at Broadway and 28th Street.
But whereas those hotels are distinctly boutique-y and were created by revamping preexisting Beaux-Arts structures, the Virgin will be an entirely new building. In fact, it promises to be one of the bigger hotels in the city, with 460 guest rooms, not including “concept suites.” Among its amenities will be a rooftop bar and swimming pool and a spa; at its base, it promises high-end retail.