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Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
11 New Hotels To Visit This Summer
Waldorf Astoria New York leads an impressive list of lavish openings. Waldorf Astoria New York Summer brings steamy days, balmy nights and, with so many exciting hotel openings, the call for a vacation. But with so many possibilities, where to go and perhaps, more importantly, where to stay? Maybe southern Spain, for a round of golf with Gibraltar shining in the background, or Osaka, for a drink at an F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired speakeasy. No matter your whim, this group of just-opened hotels (and some soon-to-debut stunners) has you covered. So, mark your calendars and compose your away messages because these fresh properties have finally opened up their booking pages. Waldorf Astoria New York's amazing accommodations. Waldorf Astoria New York When Waldorf Astoria New York closed for renovations in 2017, a part of Manhattan shut down with it. Tourists who dreamed of visiting the fabled address for a refined, luxury-filled getaway had to look elsewhere. And locals who frequented Peacock Alley for elevated pours and people-watching were forced to find another bar to do so. But the iconic property finally reopened July 15, flaunting renovated interiors from architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. While exciting new treats highlight the opening — 375 of Manhattan's most spacious accommodations, a reimagined Park Avenue Lobby and kaiseki-inspired restaurant Yoshoku — the inclusion of timeless touches (the restored Waldorf Astoria Clock, the spruced-up Peacock Alley) also help usher in the hotel's new era of quiet grandeur. Rooms at Rosewood Amsterdam retain Old World charm. Rosewood Amsterdam The Rosewood Hotel Group has again excelled at what it does best: offering luxury hospitality that is deeply rooted in place. Take what it's done in the Netherlands, for example. Rosewood, with help from the Dutch design firm Piet Boon, converted a stately, 16th-century building that once served as the Palace of Justice, into a new hotel — all while preserving the originally tiled staircases, crown moldings and other details of Old World charm in the process. The May 1 opening revealed 134 ornate rooms and suites with subtle design accents (the pleated headboards evoke the folds of judicial robes); a 1924 refurbished teak and mahogany saloon boat; and a lobby inspired by Amsterdam's iconic Rijksmuseum, with 10,000 pieces of art curated around the hotel. Fairmont Golden Prague celebrates Czech artistry. Fairmont Golden Prague Fairmont Golden Prague In 1974, Czech architect Karel Filsak designed the former InterContinental Prague in the Brutalist architectural style that dominated the day. Fairmont Golden Prague gave the historic building a careful restoration, while also celebrating Czech artistry within its walls, as seen in the curated art installations, heritage ceiling carvings and locally made glassware displayed throughout the 320 guest rooms and common spaces. The tranquil, steady presence of the Vltava River can be felt everywhere you turn, including the window seats in guest rooms, Prague's only heated outdoor pool and the spa's riverside relaxation garden. Ontario's new Hard Rock Hotel hits all the right notes. Hard Rock Hotel London Ontario, Canada Hard Rock Hotel London Ontario, Canada This new Hard Rock Hotel embraces the bold. A 32-foot metallic guitar sculpture out front reveals as much. Music is the unquestioned focal point here, with the hotel in Canada's largest indoor entertainment complex and in the country's first designated UNESCO City of Music. However, the 164-room hotel centers around much more than a stage for screaming rock stars; instead, music is thoughtfully integrated into every element of a guest's stay. The brand's signature Sound of Your Stay program provides expertly curated playlists, an in-room Victrola record player and the opportunity to have a top-of-the-line guitar delivered to the room for a jam session during your visit. Tunes are also incorporated into the hotel's wellness offerings, from the high-energy tracks played in the underwater pool to the on-demand yoga flows paired to a mellow soundtrack. Waldorf Astoria Osaka includes its own version of the Peacock Alley. Waldorf Astoria Osaka Waldorf Astoria Osaka When this Waldorf Astoria opened in April, it marked the storied hotel brand's debut in Japan. The team wisely tapped Hong Kong-based architect André Fu, whose resumé includes Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Shangri-La Tokyo, to infuse Waldorf Astoria's iconic look with Japanese techniques and materials. The result is stunning and simultaneously subtle. A keen eye will spot clever peacock motifs, the Waldorf's signature calling card, seamlessly woven into geometric designs. This intriguing blend of art deco opulence and Japanese-style minimalism shines in the 252 rooms and suites, some of Osaka's largest, which all come with spa-inspired bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows with automated drapes and linen curtains controlled from the bed. The Osaka rendition of the signature Peacock Alley is stunning, boasting panoramic views. Still, it's the speakeasy-style bar, Canes & Tales, that represents the best fusion of East and West. Step behind an unmarked green door to find yourself transported back to a Jazz Age bar mixing cocktails inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Orient Express finally takes its luxury travel standards to hotels. Orient Express Minerva Orient Express Minerva The Orient Express is often credited with ushering in a new era of luxury train travel, and this reputation carries over to the Accor brand's first venture into stationary accommodations — a 93-room hotel in Rome. Embodying the company's timeless elegance, the history-rich property is next to the Pantheon in a building that dates back to 1620, which later served as a popular destination for high-society travelers embarking on the Grand Tour. Today, visitors will find warm, sumptuous woods and luxurious fabrics in each unique room imagined by Franco-Mexican artist-architect Hugo Toro, who also crafted all the furniture. In a city known for its rooftops, Gigi Rigolatto Roma has an enviable seventh-floor perch with a view of terra-cotta rooftops, the Pantheon's dome and St. Peter's Basilica. A stop by the Bellini Bar offers a picture-perfect toast. Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol brings golf excitement to Andalusia. Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol Andalusia, the southernmost region of Spain, where the Mediterranean meets coastal mountains, has remained a well-kept secret until now. At Fairmont La Hacienda, which opened in the spring, Spanish architecture firm Daar Studio used earth tones and landscaping to make the 311-room resort blend seamlessly with the Andalusian terrain. Most of the Studio Ibu-designed rooms have uninterrupted vistas of the sea and all feature abundant natural materials, as well as private terraces. Besides the stunning scenery, the resort also delivers two award-winning golf courses with views of Gibraltar and Africa. The other big draw is internationally renowned Spanish chef Benito Gómez's restaurant, Dalmar, which celebrates the culinary flavors of Andalusia's coast with modern flair. Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing is a charming escape. Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing Mandarin Oriental Qianmen gives guests a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a neighborhood of hutongs , or traditional narrow streets. The luxury hotel group has renovated 42 courtyard houses, modernizing the interiors while maintaining the classic siheyuan (courtyard house) architectural style. The result is an utterly charming escape to another world. The Beijing hotel features elevated food and beverage options, including Cantonese and Chaozhou cuisine at Yan Garden by Chef Fei, all-day Italian dining at VICINI, historically inspired cocktails at the lively two-story TIAO cocktail bar and afternoon tea at Maple Lounge. And if you're in need of some relaxation, spend the day at the hotel's spa, a 10,000-square-foot escape that promises traditionally inspired treatments in a sleek, modern setting. Soon-To-Open Properties Faena New York When Faena New York opens in August, it will bring a touch of the playful, art deco decadence to West Chelsea that has characterized the brand's Five-Star Miami Beach property for the past decade. The Argentina-based hospitality group plans to infuse the new hotel with Latin flair, with help from South American chef Francis Mallmann, known for his work on Chef's Table and Miami's Four-Star Los Fuegos. Mallmann's new open-fire cooking restaurant, La Boca, is named after a vibrant neighborhood in Buenos Aires. Additionally, the 17,000-square-foot South American-inspired wellness sanctuary, Tierra Santa Healing House, promises total rejuvenation through a combination of traditional rituals and advanced treatments. Witness the Great Migration from gorgeous grounds. The Ritz-Carlton, Masai Mara Safari Camp The Ritz-Carlton, Masai Mara Safari Camp Imagine waking up in a tented suite with a view of the Sand River and golden savannahs stretching as far as the eye can see and having a front row seat to one of nature's most dramatic phenomena: the Great Migration. When The Ritz-Carlton, Masai Mara Safari Camp opens in August in the 580-square-mile Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, this dream of seeing millions of wildebeests, zebras and other animals on their annual trek will be a reality. The 'camp' consists of 20 architecturally unique tented suites, each with a private deck, plunge pools and butler service. Days will consist of guided safaris in the open-air Land Cruiser at sunrise, listening to a symphony of more than 500 species of birds and dining by firelight under the expansive night sky. Experience luxury from the world's second-tallest building. Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur This towering Kuala Lumpur property promises to elevate luxury to the highest level, thanks to its positioning on the top 17 floors of the world's second-tallest building (behind the Burj Khalifa), the 118-story Merdeka 118. The 252-room hotel, scheduled to open in August, will be a food and beverage destination with its 75th floor, which will house Merdeka Grill, a sleek, modern grill; Park Lounge, an all-day restaurant; and Cacao Mixology & Chocolate, the city's first chocolate-themed bar and its highest bar. Guests can indulge in ancient Malaysian healing practices at ESSA Spa, a sanctuary on the 99th floor. Inspired by Malaysia's rich cultural traditions, the hotel's interiors from G.A Group (which has done the design for Atlantis The Royal and JW Marriott Hotel Nara) are minimalist and elegant, allowing the breathtaking views from the massive windows to take center stage. MORE FROM FORBES Forbes 27 Hotels With Luxury Car Collaborations By Melinda Sheckells Forbes Forbes Travel Guide's Best Hotel Bars For 2025 By Jennifer Kester Forbes 18 Undiscovered Beach Getaways By Forbes Travel Guide Forbes From Anguilla To Australia, Forbes Travel Guide's 2025 Star Award Winners By Jennifer Kester
Fast Company
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
New York City's most iconic hotel just got a $2 billion glow-up
'A 1.6 million square foot, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.' That is how architect Frank Mahan, from the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, described the Waldorf Astoria's near $2-billion renovation project on a recent behind-the-scenes tour. 'If you were here a few months ago, or a year ago, you would see workers undertaking restoration in these spaces that we're walking through with a fine point paintbrush.' When the Waldorf Astoria opened over a century ago, the hotel became so synonymous with high society gatherings that one of its corridors—where the elite came to show off their finest attire—was known as 'Peacock Alley.' The hotel quickly became a symbol of New York's glamour, ambition, and what the author Henry James called the 'hotel spirit'—a place where everyone was equal as long as they could pay the price of entry. When I visited in late April, the ambition was evident in the constellation of workers buzzing around the premises. Some were tearing plastic wrap from freshly delivered armchairs. Others were busying around Cole Porter's grand piano, which was tauntingly shrouded under a protective cloak. But if the renovation was one giant puzzle, then these were the last pieces. This week, after much delay, the reimagined Art Deco landmark has finally reopened. It is as spectacular as New Yorkers deserve it to be. Midtown's belle of the ball Spanning an entire block in Midtown Manhattan, the Waldorf Astoria was the tallest and largest hotel in the world when it opened in 1931, to a design by Schultze & Weaver. Quickly, the Art Deco landmark, which hosted presidents, royalty, celebrities, and major global events, became synonymous with power and cultural cachet. Over the years, however, the celebrated building underwent a patchwork of renovations that gradually chipped away at its character. The lobby was reconfigured, cooling towers were added to the roof, and by 2017, when the entire hotel closed, just one of the original 5,400 windows remained. Eight years later, the Waldorf Astoria has undergone a wildly complex transformation that converted some hotel rooms into opulent residences designed by top-tier designers, and restored every inch of the place, including signature venues like the Grand Ballroom and Peacock Alley. The project was slowed down by the fact that 60,000 square feet of the building were designated as a landmark. (This makes the Waldorf Astoria the fourth largest interior landmark in New York City.) Some parts of the building were meticulously restored to reflect the building's original 1931 design; others were modernized to meet 21st-century standards. 'It's an awesome responsibility because in a sense, [the building is] owned by New Yorkers, but you can't be afraid,' Mahan told me. 'You have to allow change in order for it to have a new life.' Instead of freezing the building in time, or even gutting its identity, the Waldorf has merged old and new. At a time when countless other historic buildings are being converted into private condos, or getting demolished altogether, its rebirth offers a blueprint for how landmark preservation can coexist with new investment. Eight years after the hotel closed, the myth of the Waldorf Astoria lives on. The most iconic address The most anticipated change has been the Waldorf Astoria residences. These high-end apartments generated up-front sales revenue, which helped finance the hotel's renovation. Before it closed, the hotel counted 1,400 guest rooms. Now, that number has been reduced to 375 rooms operated by Hilton—and 375 residential units designed by French interior designer Jean-Louis Deniot. Today, for the first time ever, those with enough disposable income can own an apartment at The Waldorf and call one of the world's most iconic addresses their home. The residential wing comes with a separate entrance, a private porte cochère, and the sort of detail you'd expect from a luxury enclave carved out of a hotel this storied—like a cleverly disguised 'concierge closet' that can be accessed both from the apartment and the corridor, allowing staff to deliver packages, laundry, or room service without setting foot inside. Studios start at $1.875 million and four bedrooms begin at $18.75 million. (At the time of writing, 25 residences have already closed, and many residents have moved in, including the managing director of Waldorf Astoria New York, Luigi Romaniello; two penthouses, housed in the copper-clad towers, are yet to be unveiled.) The residences are spectacular, but the real gift is the public-facing side of the hotel. Average New Yorkers can now walk up the steps of the Park Avenue Lobby, take in the grandeur of the interiors while shortcutting through the building, and exit onto Lexington without spending a single penny. This journey was possible before the hotel closed, but today—at long last—it looks like it was always meant to. advertisement Going back to 1931 To return the Waldorf to its former glory, SOM consulted archival black-and-white photographs, specification books, and original drawings from the Schultze & Weaver collection at the Wolfsonian–FIU museum in Florida. On the outside, the team restored the building's bronze entryways and distinct brickwork, and replaced every window—expanding 900 of them to let in more daylight. They removed the cooling towers to reveal a skylight that once crowned the Starlight Ballroom, where Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra once dazzled captivated audiences. That space has now been reimagined as a 25-meter indoor swimming pool—dubbed the Starlight Pool—bathed in natural light. Inside, they worked with French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon to make the Waldorf look both old and new again. In the Park Avenue lobby, they stripped back the ceiling, updated the underlying lighting infrastructure, and rebuilt it to match an old design they had seen in an archival photograph. It was a black and white photograph, but Mahan's team still noticed that the ceiling reflected light in an unusual way. Pairing that with notes from the spec book, they discovered the central marble panel had once been backlit. 'That was the case with many of the spaces,' he says. 'People had been walking through them and thinking, 'oh, that's a historic hotel, this is the way it's always been,' but in fact, it changed many times,' he says. Now, the new lobby looks brighter—and closer to the original architects' intent. In the check-in lobby, the iconic Waldorf Astoria clock that once served as a meeting point for New Yorkers, was disassembled, cleaned, re-gilded, and re-silvered. In the Silver Gallery upstairs, art conservation firm ArtCare painstakingly restored a series of murals depicting the 12 months and four seasons. In photos Mahan shows me, the murals look muddied by time. The restored versions you can see today appear to be glowing with light. In the check-in lobby, the architects reduced the number of reception desks from a seemingly endless row of desks that Mahan says made it look like a train station, to just two. And in the Grand Ballroom, where the Beatles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, they relined the walls with genuine silver leaf and acoustically isolated the entire space. 'In the past, they've either had to keep the volume down or not rent out the rooms around the ballroom because the vibrations would bother people in the surrounding rooms,' says Mahan. 'Now, this space basically floats in the center of the building.' Perhaps most impressively, SOM reinstated the original volume and drama of the building's public passageway—the one that allows you to traverse the block from Park Avenue to Lexington. In 1931, Schultze & Weaver designed the corridor as a cinematic journey through five distinct but connected lobbies that widened and narrowed to create moments of compression and release. 'That would've added to the drama of the space,' says Mahan. By 2017, some lobbies had become cluttered with retail build-outs and clashing materials. Now, it flows like the choreographed experience it once was. The building has survived COVID-19 delays, supply chain issues, and even a corruption scandal —only to reopen at a troubled time for the tourism industry. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the U.S. is on track to lose $12.5 billion in travel revenue this year, which makes it the only country out of 184 analyzed that's projected to see tourism dollars decline in 2025. If all else fails (it likely won't considering the target clientele) New Yorkers will at least have that glorious shortcut. The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Waldorf Astoria's Peacock Alley Gets Ready for a New Era
The Waldorf Astoria is back and Mrs. Astor would be pleased as punch. When the iconic hotel reopens in mid-July, visitors will be walking into a painstakingly renovated Art Deco skyscraper with a storied history going back to the height of the city's Gilded Age. 'This wasn't just a restoration,' says architect Frank Mahan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), who started on the project almost a decade ago. 'It was a total transformation of the building.' The eight-year renovation saw the 1,400-room hotel—at 625 feet, it was the world's largest when it relocated from Fifth to Park Avenue in 1931—completely reconfigured. The Schultze & Weaver façade, with its rooftop copper domes and Art Deco step-back architecture, has been burnished to its original luster; the hotel's rooms and suites, which now number 375, have been expanded in size; the legendary Grand Ballroom is ready to once again host the city's most high-powered galas; and owners are moving into an adjacent tower with 372 residences designed by ELLE Decor A-Lister Jean-Louis Deniot. But the most iconic space of all remains: Peacock Alley, the grand promenade that defined New York glamour for almost a century. 'It connects everything: the entrance on Park Avenue, the Clock Lounge, and the heart of the hotel,' says Pierre-Yves Rochon, the French designer who oversaw the interiors for the Waldorf's public spaces and hotel rooms. The original Peacock Alley—and the first Waldorf Astoria hotel—predates the current location. Like an episode of the Julian Fellowes series, it began with two feuding members of the Astor family: William Waldorf Astor and his aunt, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the real-life basis for Donna Murphy's character on the HBO show. Irritated by his aunt's refusal to cede the title 'the Mrs. Astor' to his wife, William built a 13-story hotel on his property, adjacent to his aunt's mansion. She and her son retaliated by building their own hotel next door. Eventually, the two properties merged into the Waldorf = Astoria, with the equal sign representing Peacock Alley, the long marble-lined corridor that connected the two buildings, so named because it soon became one of the most fashionable places in town for high society to preen and promenade. In 1929, the original hotel was torn down to make way for the Empire State Building. The new Waldorf Astoria then reopened on Park Avenue as a 51-story skyscraper—23 stories taller than the original. At that point, Peacock Alley was so identified with the hotel that Schultze & Weaver's lead designer, Lloyd Morgan, created a new version in the Park Avenue location. The space quickly became a favorite gathering spot for the celebrities and royalty who frequented the hotel, from Marilyn Monroe to Elizabeth Taylor to Grace Kelly. When they started on the Waldorf restoration project, SOM's architects were surprised that the interiors of the New York City icon had never received landmark protection. They spent years researching the history of the hotel's architecture and design and worked with the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to have the inside of the building designated a landmark that cannot be torn down in the future. Going back to the original documents and photographs, they learned that the hotel's interiors were altered multiple times. Peacock Alley had evolved over the years into the hotel's ornate lobby. At its core was the gilded 19th-century clock, originally commissioned by Queen Victoria for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which John Jacob Astor IV bought and displayed it in the original Waldorf Astoria. 'We started digging through the archives,' says SOM partner Kenneth A. Lewis. 'The lobby had gone through multiple iterations—in the 1950s, '60s, and again in the '80s. Conrad Hilton believed in constant modernization, and that's reflected in how the interiors evolved.' Those redesigns include a 1960s version where wood veneer was swapped for blue enamel walls; the zany décor also included columns in the shape of golden palm trees and a pair of massive stone lions. Later, the room became darker and more serious with mahogany veneer and cove lighting. The architects began by streamlining the space to recreate its sense of symmetry and flow. They moved the check-in area out of Peacock Alley and into its own designated area. The space once again forms the heart of the hotel, serving as an enfilade linking the entries and lobbies at Park with those on Lexington Avenue. A restaurant was removed and replaced by the Peacock Alley Bar, which is open to the central lobby and will serve up cocktails by Jeff Bell, the mixologist behind the speakeasy Please Don't Tell (PDT). Meanwhile, the 11-foot Chicago World's Fair clock—an octagonal beauty in gilded bronze and orm0lu—was removed and restored offsite before going on display temporarily at the New York Historical Society. Queen Victoria commissioned the timepiece, which depicts several American presidents and images of sports, agriculture, and architecture, for the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (the Lady Liberty that tops it was added later). The clock has been returned to its central spot in Peacock Alley where visitors can once again "meet at the clock." Based on documents, SOM has brought the space back to its original look: A lighter maple burl veneer sheaths the walls, the black marble columns have been restored, and a frieze added in the 1950s was removed to make the room feel taller. Meanwhile, they worked to restore the intricate plasterwork on the ceiling. 'At one point, we built a full plaster shop within Peacock Alley,' Mahan says. 'There was a room inside a room, with high wood walls, and silicone molds were made to recreate the plasterwork where missing.' The hotel's interiors are an unusual hybrid of Art Deco styles. 'The exterior is a stripped-down American Art Deco—more modernist in style,' Lewis notes. 'But inside, it's more exuberant, almost French Deco in its detailing. Lloyd Morgan, the senior designer, had studied in Europe, and you can see that influence. The interior also references the previous Waldorf on Fifth Avenue, which was Beaux-Arts.' He also commissioned a carpet with a fish motif that nods to the one in the former Sert Room at the corner of Park Avenue and 50th Street. That room featured a handwoven carpet inspired by Persian gardens, with an aquatic design that incorporated fish and lily pads. 'The history of the building guided us,' Rochon says. 'The Art Deco legacy, the American precision of the 1930s, the volumes, the materials—everything was already there. We simply worked to bring lightness, coherence, and calmness.' Rochon says the goal was to transform the lobby into a loungelike room with tailored seating, chic lighting, and a central bar in black lacquer and Saint Laurent marble. 'It's a place to sit, observe, and feel the life of the hotel,' he says. In the evening, the space will come alive with martinis and music from another of the hotel's treasures: Cole Porter's mahogany Steinway piano also takes center stage at Peacock Alley. Porter lived in the adjacent Waldorf Towers from 1934 to 1964 with his two cats: "Anything" and "Goes." What would the Mrs. Astor make of the renovation? Surely, she'd be strutting like a peacock. You Might Also Like From the Archive: Tour Sarah Jessica Parker's Relaxed Hamptons Retreat 75 Small (But Mighty) Kitchens to Steal Inspiration from Right This Instant
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Barbican centre side street entrance to be opened up with new public plaza
Plans for a major new office development that will open up the famously hard to find entrance to the Barbican Arts Centre have been submitted to the City of London authorities. The proposals for the 91,100 sq m scheme over two blocks at 1 Silk Street will create a new public plaza at the Brutalist theatre, cinemas and concert hall complex's main entrance, currently tucked down the narrow side street off Beech Street. The development managers behind the 21 storey project are Lipton Rogers Developments, the firm best known for 22 Bishopsgate, the City's tallest skyscraper. They are working on behalf of US investors LaSalle Investment Management to a design from architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The developers said: 'The proposals aim to provide greater visibility for the cultural institutions within this unique corner of the City of London, creating 2,406 sqm of public realm including a new, welcoming public plaza at the Barbican Arts Centre's main entrance, and providing engaging public-facing spaces for art, performance, and community. ' As well as the public plaza, proposals include new cultural spaces, potentially providing facilities for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a shared-use community hall ; and a retail arcade, creating a new pedestrian route through the site, connecting Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations to the Barbican Arts Centre. The scheme is separate from the Barbican's own £240 million plans to overhaul its interior foyers, conservatory, and lakeside terraces in time for its 50th anniversary in 2032. The current two blocks on the 1 Silk Street site, Milton House and Shire House, were built in 1982 and refurbished in 1996. However, new energy performance standards mean they will soon be effectively unlettable. One of the biggest current occupiers, magic circle law firm Linklaters are due to move out to a new headquarters at nearby 20 Ropemaker Street next year. Under the plan the existing basement and foundations - representing about 40% of the overall structure - will be retained to reduce release of embodied carbon, construction waste, and environmental disruptions from dust and noise. The development will have green terraces, street-level planting, and new trees, resulting in a 142% increase in planted areas. Demolition of the site is expected to take around 12 months and construction of the new scheme taking three and a half years The building is scheduled to be completed by 2032. However, the application likely to be opposed by some local Barbican residents. One described the proposed new buildings as 'oversized' adding 'there is a lot of anxiety' about the plans. But Gary Moore, head of International Accounts, Europe at LaSalle Investment Management, said: 'The proposals for 1 Silk Street will deliver best-in-class commercial building space that supports the City of London's Destination City ambitions, maintaining the Square Mile's position as a globally competitive financial district. 'Following significant local engagement, we are pleased to present designs that will improve the surrounding public realm and environment through a combination of cultural, amenity, and sustainable uses.' Sir Stuart Lipton. founding partner at Lipton Rogers said: "The 1 Silk Street planning application marks a bold step in redefining workspace and cultural integration in the heart of the City of London. This visionary redevelopment will deliver sustainable, high-quality offices while enriching the Barbican area with dynamic retail, public, and cultural spaces.' Kent Jackson, Partner at SOM, added: "Our vision is to deliver a new landmark for this part of London – one that introduces dynamic retail and cultural spaces, creates new public realm, and strengthens important pedestrian connections. 'Expanding upon the area's existing cultural legacy, these elements will help to reimagine this corner of the city as a vibrant destination whilst creating a bold new architecture that has a positive contribution to the City of London's Destination City strategy." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Expanded observation deck to take over old Signature Room space at former John Hancock Center
360 Chicago at former John Hancock to expand into former Signature Room space 360 Chicago at former John Hancock to expand into former Signature Room space 360 Chicago at former John Hancock to expand into former Signature Room space The restaurant that used to grace the top of the former John Hancock Center is gone for good, but something new is coming to take its place. 360 CHICAGO announced Wednesday that its observation deck, which has always occupied the 94th floor of the iconic skyscraper, will be expanding to the 95th floor — becoming the city's first multistory observation deck. The 96th floor will be converted to an event space for weddings, celebrations, and corporate gatherings. Dave Burk, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Dave Burk, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill The new spaces are expected to open to the public in 2027 following a multimillion-dollar renovation, according to 360 CHICAGO. Once the renovation is complete, the three floors will feature a grand staircase connecting them all. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill The Signature Room restaurant that used to grace the 95th floor of the Hancock Center abruptly closed on Sept. 28, 2023, citing "severe economic hardship." Under its most recent incarnation, The Signature Room had opened in 1993, but there had been a restaurant in the space as far back as when the John Hancock Center first opened. The restaurant was formerly known simply as the 95th Restaurant, and dated back to 1970. The Signature Lounge, that famous spot for a cocktail a floor up on the 96th floor, was previously called Images. In March 2024, a judge ordered $1.5 million in back pay for former Signature Room employees, after ruling that the restaurant and lounge failed to give workers proper notice when the business closed. Magnicity, the parent company of 360 CHICAGO , purchased the old Signature Room space in June of last year. The company enlisted the help of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill — the architectural firm behind the John Hancock Center itself — to redesign the space.
