Extell Development has signed a Hyatt hotel brand to anchor its planned supertall at 740 Eighth Avenue in Times Square, according to Commercial Observer, which first reported the deal.
The project is one of several supertall towers Extell has advanced in Midtown in recent years, following the firm's Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street. A hotel anchor typically locks in a tower's lower-floor program and construction sequencing before a general contractor is selected, since hotel floors carry different mechanical, elevator and life-safety requirements than residential or office floors above them.
Neither Extell nor Hyatt has filed permits for the Eighth Avenue site with the city's Department of Buildings as of this week, and no construction schedule has been made public. Extell did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
For contractors, a signed hotel anchor is the clearest signal yet that 740 Eighth Avenue is moving from concept toward a buildable program. Hotel towers in this class typically bid out structural and enclosure packages 12 to 18 months ahead of a target opening, and Extell's prior Midtown towers (Central Park Tower, One Manhattan Square) used large, NYC-based concrete and curtain-wall primes.
## What to do next Firms that have chased Extell's past supertalls should watch DOB NOW for a new building permit filing at 740 Eighth Avenue — that filing, not the hotel announcement, is the trigger for scope and schedule. Concrete superstructure and curtain-wall subs should flag the address now so they catch the pre-qualification outreach Extell typically runs before a GC bid.