Crain’s New York Business: Queens casino forges ahead with plans for $400M Hyatt despite bleak hotel market
By Eddie Small
October 6, 2020
A $400 million Hyatt Regency is set to open early next year at the only casino in New York City, even as the hotel industry struggles through its worst market in recent memory.
Genting Group is moving full steam ahead with its plans for a 10-story, 400-room hotel at the Resorts World Casino near JFK Airport in Queens. It plans to open the Hyatt during the first quarter of 2021, the company announced Tuesday.
“We have always felt that, for the long-term development opportunities at the property here, adding in overnight hotel accommodations to the mix for Resorts World NYC would really propel us to become a true world-class destination,” said Bob DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East. “And we certainly understand the difficult times we’re in now, but we’re really building this for the future.”
The casino itself opened in 2011, and Genting announced plans to add a hotel in 2017. At the time the company expected to open the hotel in mid-2019.
Hyatt did not respond to a request for comment.
The ongoing pandemic has hit New York’s hotel industry especially hard. Hotels including the AKA Wall Street and the W New York Downtown on Albany Street have closed permanently, and the Hilton in Times Square filed a notice with the state Department of Labor on Aug. 31 saying it planned to close permanently as well. The industry faced an immediate 85% drop in revenue starting March 22, Hotel Association of New York City President Vijay Dandapani previously told Crain’s.
The hotel industry’s struggles are directly linked to the struggles of the tourism industry, which also has taken a massive hit due in part to travel restrictions. Famed New York institutions including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Broadway all plan to stay dark until at least the end of the year.
The City Council has proposed ideas to help the tourism industry that include creating a corollary to Open Restaurants for theaters and creating a temporary centralized agency under the mayor’s office to allow members of the industry to communicate better with city bureaucrats.
Hyatt currently has 18 hotels in New York City, according to its website. A Hyatt Centric at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue is scheduled to open soon.
Genting isn’t the only company placing a bet on New York’s hotel industry during a rough time. ICG Hospitality and 7G Realty recently partnered to open a swanky Rockaway Beach hotel with 53 rooms, eights suites, a spa and four restaurants and bars.
Resorts World closed March 15 and reopened Sept. 9 with significant safety protocols in place, DeSalvio said. He acknowledged that the hotel might not see a surge of visitors right away, but he remains confident about its future.
“I do think that, over time, business travel will ramp up,” he said. “It’s going to take a while, obviously, for it to get back to where it was. But the fact that we’re so close to JFK and these will be what we believe to be the highest-quality rooms near JFK, I think it bodes well.”