Grand Hyatt New York
109 East 42nd Street | also 412 Lexington Avenue, 107 East 42nd Street | East Midtown | built 1919
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1919
The Commodore Hotel opens beside Grand Central Terminal
The Commodore Hotel opened on January 28, 1919, on a site the New York Central Railroad had acquired in 1910 as part of building Grand Central Terminal. Warren & Wetmore designed it, with the Fuller Company as general contractor. The hotel had 2,000 rooms, up to 28 stories and an H-shaped floor plan, and the New-York Tribune called its main ballroom the biggest private ballroom of any hotel anywhere.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1927
John McEntee Bowman stages a circus with an elephant in the Commodore's grand ballroom
In 1927 John McEntee Bowman, who ran the Commodore, held a circus in the hotel and brought an elephant into the grand ballroom. The stunt was meant to impress other hoteliers. It was one of many spectacles in the hotel's first decade, when the Commodore also hosted car shows, charity balls, fashion shows and wrestling matches.
“Bowman also hosted a circus in 1927, with an elephant in the grand ballroom, to impress other hoteliers…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1949
The Basketball Association of America holds its 1949 draft at the Commodore Hotel
On April 21, 1949, the Basketball Association of America held its third annual draft at the Commodore. Eleven teams took part, and the Providence Steamrollers chose Howie Shannon of Kansas State first overall. It was the last draft held under the BAA name, because the league merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA on August 3, 1949.
“Date April 21, 1949 Location Commodore Hotel (New York City, New York)…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1976
The Commodore Hotel closes after years of declining profits
The Commodore closed on May 18, 1976, after Realty Hotels, a New York Central subsidiary that had run it since 1966, lost $1.3 million on it in 1975. By then occupancy had dropped to 33 percent. Its roughly 500 employees were laid off.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1978
About a million furnishings go on the auction block as the Commodore is gutted
With the Commodore shut since 1976, National Content Liquidators began auctioning about one million furnishings and decorations from the hotel in January 1978, ahead of the Trump and Hyatt renovation. Thousands of people came through on the first day. The hotel was then stripped almost to its steel frame, though the Trump Organization saved 200 copper faces from the original cornice.
“National Content Liquidators started auctioning off about one million furnishings and decorations in January 1978…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1980
Trump and Hyatt reopen the hotel as the Grand Hyatt
Donald Trump and Hyatt spent $100 million remodeling the Commodore between June 1978 and September 1980, removing almost all of its original decorations. It reopened in September 1980 as the Grand Hyatt New York with 1,407 rooms. The new design added a glass facade and a three-story atrium and kept the original ballroom.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
Trump signs off on accounting changes that leave the city short on Grand Hyatt rent
On April 22, 1987, Donald Trump approved changes in how the Grand Hyatt kept its books. A month later the hotel paid the city only $667,155 in profit-linked rent, down from $3.7 million the year before, even though 1986 had been its best year with nearly $80 million in revenue. City auditors found missing ledgers and mixed accounting methods, state officials ordered about $2.9 million paid, and the dispute was settled in 2004.
Source: cbsnews.com
- 1994
Hyatt's owners sue Trump for $100 million, saying he blocked renovations
On March 28, 1994, Refco Properties, the Pritzker family holding that was Trump's 50 percent partner in the hotel, sued him in federal court in Manhattan for $100 million. The suit said he refused to pay half of a renovation of about $37 million, so the Grand Hyatt deteriorated and lost ground to rivals. It also said he had secretly ceded his stake to creditors Bankers Trust and Chemical Bank. Trump blamed Hyatt's management.
Source: latimes.com
- 1996
The Pritzker family buys Donald Trump's share of the hotel
In October 1996, the Pritzker family, which operated the Grand Hyatt, bought Donald Trump's share in the hotel for $140 million. The deal ended a partnership that had begun with the 1978 conversion of the Commodore Hotel. Afterward, Hyatt owned a 99 percent stake and the Pritzker Family Philanthropic Fund held the rest.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2011
A $130 million renovation ends with two Jaume Plensa marble sculptures in the lobby
Hyatt announced on December 6, 2011 that the Grand Hyatt's $130 million, multi-phase renovation had finished in November. It covered 1,306 redesigned guest rooms, the New York Central restaurant, a remade lobby and mezzanine, and a grab-and-go food outlet called the Market. The lobby's centerpiece became two marble figures by sculptor Jaume Plensa, Awilda and Chloe, one set in a water wall and the other on an onyx plinth by the drop-off area.
Source: newsroom.hyatt.com
- 2021
The hotel is set to reopen November 1 after the City Council passes a severance law
In late September 2021, days after the City Council required hotels that had closed or laid off 75 percent of their staff to pay $500 a week in severance for up to 30 weeks, the Grand Hyatt was reported to be set to welcome guests again on November 1. A hotel could avoid the mandate by calling back at least a quarter of its workers by October 11 and reopening by November 1. The 1,300-room hotel planned to bring back at least a quarter of its roughly 700 employees.
Source: therealdeal.com
- 2026
Developers file permits for an 83-story tower to replace the hotel
In April 2026 RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone, the developers of 175 Park Avenue, filed permits for a supertall designed by SOM that would replace the Hyatt next to Grand Central. The design, first released in 2021, has been trimmed to 1,545 feet and 83 stories of hotel and office space. Steel lattice columns would thread between the rail tracks below, and SOM lists 2032 as the completion date. The hotel must be demolished first.
Source: dezeen.com
Further reading
- Hyatt Grand Central New YorkWikipedia
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