New Times Square plans are unveiled

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 10, 1993 by Lois Weiss

The planners working on re-inventing 42nd Street and Times Square discovered early on, through what they deem an "archaeological understanding," that the best thing about the area was the cacophony of noises, smells, lights, action, colors and people.

Instead of toning it down or trying to make it different, the New 42ndStreet, a.k.a. the New 42, intends to just shape what goes on there. Among its goals are taking out the pornographic factor and adding a photo opportunity site at the crossroads of the world.

"We discovered it should be like 42nd Street is now," explained Cora Cahan, president of the New 42nd Street to members of the National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives (NACORE). "It should be dazzling to the eyes, ears and nose."

Cahan and Rebecca Robertson, who heads the 42nd Street Development Project, a subsidiary of the Urban Development Corporation, which is overseeing the plans, discussed changes anticipated for Times Square at NACORE's Downtown Club luncheon last month. The 50th floor meeting room at 140 Broadway, with its floor to ceiling windows, were a constant reminder that in this city, buildings and lights are always seen from more than one direction.

Cahan explained the overriding goal for the Times Square area is to have people there day and night with a mix of users that will create a new cacophony. Indeed, the planners showed off color renderings of block sections with masses of signage, lights, neon, holography, and a concert of colors.

The New 42 is working with six of the area theaters to renovate them for re-use. It already has $18.2 million dollars in hand from Times Square Associates, the designated developers for the office towers, with which to renovate two not-for-profit theaters.

The former Victory Theater will be renamed the New Victory and after a $7.9 million renovation will be dedicated to the youth of the city. As the smallest of the theaters with about 500 seats, the New Victory will present events like dance, mime, theater and puppetry for children, pre-teens and teenagers. "It will be affordable, evocative theater," Cahan added.

Two other theaters, chosen from a group of three -- the Times Square Theater, The Academy and/or the Lyric -- will be leased by a group of unidentified corporate leaders who are planning to transform the combined interiors into the New York Information Center, a tourism center, now lacking in the area.

With 20 million tourists and visitors annually, this interactive center would provide a place to find out about attractions and would act as a unified site for restaurant, hotel and theater information and reservations. Besides a multi-media show, a souvenir shop is planned with items 1ike a video made on the spot of the tourist jumping in line with the Rockettes or marching down Fifth Avenue in a parade.

When the notion of a plan for 42nd Street was first proposed, Cahan recalled, suggestions were made on the order of sports bars and mud wrestling. Over the last six to eight months the planners have seen a change in the kinds of proposals that are being made, she noted.

Cahan credits this to deals completed with Bertlesmann and Morgan Stanley for major office buildings in Times Square, giving the area an air of legitimacy. "We will see a renaissance spurred by the theaters on 42nd Street," she added.

Robertson believes the renovations that are planned for the area will make it a "must see rather than a must avoid" and will make Times Square a better office location eventually.

A design scheme for 42nd Street, running from Eight Avenue eastward to Times Square, has been planned by Robert A.M. Stern.

Robertson said the Eight Avenue end will have a 1,000 room convention hotel (an increase of 250 rooms over the first proposal), and cineplexes. The corner itself will provide an opportunity to use lots of great signs. They project video and music stores on the ends of the blocks, with entertainment and restaurant uses mid-block.

Mid-block buildings will be rehabilitated on a permanent basis, while the office sites at the corners of Times Square are expected to house interim uses until the commercial office market improves and developers George Klein of Park Tower and partner Prudential Insurance Company of America can move those plans along. These developers will develop both the interim and final projects.

A photo-globe has been drawn into the depictions to provide a "photo opportunity" at the southern side of the Times Square crossroads so that, as Robertson says, every tourist will want to pose there with the object in the background.

The Disney Company intends to makeover the New Amsterdam Theater - a former home of the Ziegfield Foillies and one of the largest houses in the area - to present musical versions of its films. Disney is already planning a run of "Beauty and the Beast" for the Palace Theater at 47th Street this coming spring. "Disney coming is the blue-chip tenant," said a delighted Robertson, who had come to the luncheon directly from a congenial meeting with Disney officials.