Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has announced that it will open the Shangri-La Hotel, New York in 2010. The group signed development and operating agreements with RFR Holding LLC and a client of ING Clarion Partners, to construct a 206-room luxury hotel in the Park Avenue corridor of Midtown Manhattan and will operate the property under a long-term hotel management agreement.

  The hotel will be in a new 64-storey tower adjacent to the landmarked
  Seagram Building,  built on the site of the former YWCA building at 610
  Lexington Avenue.  It will have a dedicated entrance on 53rd Street
  between Park and Lexington Avenues.

  The unique design for the slender 709-foot-tall tower calls for exterior
  columns incorporated into the building’s faceted curtain wall, using low
  iron glass to achieve a crystal clear appearance of the tower. The
  hotel’s ground floor lobby will have a soaring 100-foot atrium with
  skylight,  providing the striking sense of arrival that Shangri-La guests
  have long appreciated in the group’s Asian hotels.

  State-of-the-art elevators operating at 1,400 feet per minute will whisk
  guests from the lobby to guestrooms.  In keeping with the contemporary
  interpretation of luxury as space, Shangri-La plans to offer the largest
  guestrooms in Manhattan and they will feature floor-to-ceiling glass
  windows affording expansive views of Park Avenue,  Central Park and
  Midtown.  More than one third of the rooms will be suites and nearly all
  rooms will be over 500 square feet.  Deluxe rooms will range in size from
  641 to 940 square feet, while suites will be 1,023 square feet and up.

  The Shangri-La Hotel,  New York,  will be the first US hotel property
  designed by renowned architect Lord Norman Foster.  The interior design
  team will be led by Jean-Michel Gathy, founder and head designer of Kuala
  Lumpur-based Denniston International Architects &  Planners Ltd. The
  interiors will be contemporary in style with Asian influences.

  Sixty-six of the 206 guestrooms will be sold as condominium hotel units.
  These units will be operated as part of the hotel and interspersed
  throughout hotel floors.  In addition,  17 ultra high-end residential
  condominiums ranging in size from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet will occupy
  the top 10 floors of the tower. Residents of the private condominiums
  will have dedicated elevators,  access to Shangri-La amenities and
  services, plus a tailored range of customised household services.

  One of the hotel’s highlights will be Shangri-La’s signature spa brand -
  CHI,  The Spa at Shangri-La.  CHI combines Chinese and Himalayan healing
  therapies, inspired by the mysticism of the Shangri-La legend captured in
  James Hilton’s famous Lost Horizon novel.  CHI’s spacious private spa
  suites will be among the largest in the city, offering a “spa within a
  spa” atmosphere.

  The hotel will have an 80-foot swimming pool and sundeck with a
  retractable roof on the ninth floor. Other facilities will include a
  fitness centre; business centre; 5,000 square feet of function space, all
  with windows;  and a signature retail shop. The hotel will also have a
  lobby lounge with sidewalk café;  ground-floor bar and second floor
  restaurant that will feature two private dining rooms.

  The New York hotel joins Shangri-La properties under development in the
  West,  as part of the group’s strategy of opening luxury hotels in key
  international gateway cities.  Shangri-La, which operates 50 properties
  in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, is committed to expanding in North
  America and Europe and showcasing its renowned hospitality through new,
  intimately-sized properties.  Shangri-La hotels are also currently under
  development in Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Toronto.

  “We searched long and patiently for the ideal partners and property for
  our New York debut and have found them in this special project,” said
  Giovanni Angelini,  Shangri-La chief executive officer and managing
  director.  “This hotel will be a perfect complement to our high-profile
  developments   underway in Paris,  London,  Tokyo,  Shanghai,  Beijing,
  Maldives and others.  Even more importantly, we look forward to becoming
  an active and involved corporate citizen in this amazing city and newly
  adopted home.”

  “We are delighted to partner with Shangri-La and bring the group’s
  legendary hospitality to New York,” said Aby J. Rosen, co-founder of RFR
  Holding LLC.  “We believe there is no better showcase for Shangri-La’s
  New York debut than this elegant tower that will stand proudly along side
  RFR’s landmarked Seagram Building and neighbouring Lever House on Park
  Avenue.  Shangri-La operates world-class luxury hotels and we look
  forward to working with them to build this great hotel in New York City.”
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