Newly Designed JFK-Based Hotel Tops Out

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York

MCR Development has topped out the first hotel structure for the TWA Hotel, a planned 505-key, world-class hotel that is repurposed from Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

When completed, TWA Hotel will consist of 505 guestrooms, 50,000 square feet of state-of-the-art meeting and event space and a variety of high-quality food, beverage and retail options. It’s scheduled to open during the first few months of 2019.

“Since the TWA Hotel groundbreaking with Governor Cuomo less than one-year ago, our team has been hard at work breathing new life into Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center terminal and developing one of the most iconic hotels in the world,” Tyler Morse, MCR and Morse Development’s CEO, said in a prepared release. “This topping out brings us one step closer to reviving this treasured landmark and reopening it to the public for generations to come.”

Original features

The design calls for two low-rise hotel structures set back on either side of the terminal and the property will boast an off-grid cogeneration plant designed to defer to the historic landmark.

The 200,000-square-foot TWA Flight Center terminal building will serve as the hotel lobby, which will be the largest in the world. Guests and passengers from every terminal will have easy access to the hotel via the AirTrain, as well as through the famous Saarinen passenger tubes that connect directly to JFK’s Terminal 5.

Additionally, the TWA Hotel will house a Jet Age and mid-century modern museum that will chronicle the mid-century modern design era and the rise of the Jet Age, exhibiting mid-century furniture, TWA uniforms, David Klein destination posters, inflight amenities and other TWA memorabilia.

Preview at One World Trade Center

A few months ago, MCR opened the TWA lounge on the 86th floor of One World Trade Center, as a preview of what the TWA Hotel would be like. It features a replica of Eero Saarinen’s legendary sunken lounge, the Italian Solari split-flap board and a growing collection of TWA and mid-century memorabilia.

“The futuristic TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport set the mid-20th-century jet-age standard for terminal design,” Rick Cotton, Port Authority’s executive director, said. “The TWA Hotel’s latest topping-out milestone is an exciting milestone for the project as well as for New York and for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vision to remake New York’s airports into state-of-the-art gateways for national and international travelers.”

There has been a great deal of innovation in hospitality of late, as hotel development companies have been preparing hotels for the future with original designs such as what the TWA Hotel will offer.

Image courtesy of Max Touhey