Signs of life return to puzzlingly empty Midtown Sixth Avenue site

At long last, there’s life again at Midtown Sixth Avenue’s most puzzling development site.Morris Moinian’s Fortuna Realty razed an eight-story midblock building at 1150 Sixth Ave.between West 44th and 45th streets more than a dozen years ago, but never went ahead with plans to develop a hotel.Now, out of the blue, Department of Buildings posters popped up on the plywood fence announcing “construction equipment” and a fence for a “proposed new 41-story hotel” to be completed in September 2029.The filing by Flintlock Construction even includes a rendering by architects Stonehill Taylor for the tower, which doesn’t resemble an earlier design by Ismael Leyva.The site’s empty condition has long perplexed the real estate world – a vacant spot between two large buildings in the heart of vibrant Sixth Avenue, where offices are nearly 100% full.Moinian leased the site to a “shopping court” until shortly before the pandemic but ended the lease when he seemed ready to build the hotel.

He put the project on hold in 2020, saying his company was too busy with other undertakings at the time.The revived development plan follows a July report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli which cited a strong New York City hotel market, with the nation’s highest occupancy, room rates and revenue per available room in the US.The numbers remained slightly below pre-pandemic levels due mainly to a loss of international travelers.No one involved at 1150 Sixth Ave.

could immediately be reached.No detailed filings could be found on the Buildings Deptartment’s web site despite the DOB documents displayed at the site.Moinian bought the location for a mere $39 million in 2011.

He tapped a JLL team led by Bob Knakal to find a buyer for the location in 2020, but no deal was ever made.Knakal told us at the time it could fetch up to $100 million, or over $600 per square foot.Moinian’s Fortuna, which specializes in hotels, has developed the Dylan and Indigo in Manhattan a...