Hard Rock Hotel construction back in action
A tower crane popped up and construction resumed over the weekend after a curious, weeks-long pause at the Hard Rock Hotel site at 151 W. 48th St. But the construಌction manager for the 34-story, 225,000-squa💦re-foot project is now Aecom Tishman, not Plaza Construction — which was hired for preliminary tasks such as providing cost estimates but “concluded its services” late last year.
Gary Barnett’s Extell ♒Development Co., which is partners with Hard Rock International, wouldn’t comment on the change. But a knowledgable source said that Extell was “not satisfied” enough with Plaza to continue with it through actual construction.
A foundati🐷on is in place, but visible vertical work only started this week. An old sign for Plaza Constr😼uction can still be seen under a new one for Aecom Tishman.
A rep for Plaza said the split was amicable, that it completed work with Extel🌠l “satisfactorily,” and “aဣgreed to step aside” when Tishman, which had worked with Extell in the past, became available.
Extell, through its rep, attributed the recent tempor𓃲ary work stoppage to working out “odds and ends” with Aecom Tishman, currently ranked as the city’s largest construction manager, with 20-odd major projects, inclu𒁏ding One Vanderbilt.
Plaza Construction “maintains a r🍷obust presence in the city,” its spokesperson said.
But some New York real estate moguls have buzzed that Plaza — founded by New York’s Fisher Brothers in 1986 and long well🅘-regarded — was “not the same” since its purchase by China Construction America, a subsidiary of꧂ China State Construction Engineering Corp., in 2014.
Insiders said the main issue was communication and bureaucracy, and that the kinds of routine issues that arise between developers and general contractors took longer♈ to resolve because Plaza had to run them through Beijing.
Rose Associates’ former co-President Adam R. Rose, who oversaw the $600 million conversion of 70 Pine St. from offices to luxury apartments — which took a year longer than pꦫlanned — said, “In the previous [Plaza] ownership, the Fisher family was responsive. Now, it is owned by China Construction. How’s your Chinese?”
Plaza says its management team, including CEO Richard 🉐Wood, is the same as it was when it was owned by the Fishers.
According to a Crain’s story in December 2018, Plaza’s New York-area revenue fell 7.9% in 2017 from 2016, down $702 million. The company’s nationwide revenue fell 10.4%, 💟or $1.07 billion, over the same period, Crain’s said.
Plaza’s rep said that the firm recently estimated for Crain’s that companywide revenue for 2019 would be $1.25 billion, up ovꦑer $1.065 billion in 2018. The rep didn’t provide a dollar estimate for the New York area, but claimed it was grꦰowing 10% “year over year on average.”
The city’s first branded Hard Rock Hotel, to open in 2021, is to have 35 stories and 445 rooms. It will boast a third-floor “rock gym,” a rooftop lou𒐪nge for live music and musical memorabilia displays.