Dismantling of Manhattan hotel ramping up

Demolition prep work is continuing on the 102-year-old Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue in the Manhattan borough in New York City. The work had been interrupted by a fire in February.

According to a June report by New York Yimby, work is “ramping up” at the site, which will be redeveloped via construction of PENN 15. The report calls that edifice “a 56-story, 1,200-foot commercial supertall [structure] at 15 Penn Plaza in Midtown, Manhattan.”

The report names New York-based Northstar Contracting Group as the demolition contractor for the property, which sits on the Seventh Avenue block between West 32nd and West 33rd Streets. (That firm also acquired Chicago-based Heneghan Wrecking & Excavating Co. last June.)

Regarding the Penn Hotel project, Michael Young of New York Yimby says, “Since our last update in early March, scaffolding and construction netting has begun to enshroud the 102-year-old McKim, Mead & White-designed hotel, obscuring portions of its brick and stone façade.”

Based on other Manhattan demolition projects he's tracked, Young predicts demolition work will proceed into 2023. However, he adds that his website has “documented other even taller buildings in New York City being razed in less than a year, [including] the former 707-foot-tall Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue.”