Lifting the Historic Palace Theatre to Make it All Happen
To pull it off, multiple components of the project will be constructed simultaneously, will retain the overbuilt site’s available floor-area-ratio, and maximize the site’s utilization. Of the existing structure, 25% will be retained, including the iconic Palace Theatre which currently resides at ground level. New flagship-ready retail space will be inserted by lifting the Palace Theatre approximately 30 feet above grade and excavating below ground-level to create up to 75,000 square feet of new usable space.
Lifting the Palace Theatre by 30 feet is no easy feat. The Palace Theatre’s interiors are currently registered as a New York City Historic Landmark, but not its exterior. Through a coordinated historic preservation and engineering effort, the the historic Palace Theatre will be elevated to a new location where our design team will create a new lobby that reactivates historic entrances as well as more efficient guest facilities and back-of-house theatre operations space. These new elements are all designed to enhance the theatre-going experience for guests.
When combined, the new retail podium and elevated Palace Theatre will create an experience unlike any other in Times Square, bringing retail, food and beverage, and entertainment to a single destination located at 1568 Broadway. These components will be constructed all while building a new hotel tower on top of the recreated podium using the existing structure of the current tower. It’s our job to keep the team on schedule and on budget throughout the entire renovation process.