New $20 Million Gay Resort Planned for New York City

At a time when city officials nervously double-check and then triple-check their once confident projections about tourism growth and more than a few gay locals grumble about the dearth of fresh nightlife choices, a $20 million project could bring nearly 80,000 square feet in tourism and dance club space to West 42nd Street — in the form of New York’s first full-service gay hotel and the first new nightclub serving the LGBT community in more than five years to have a cabaret license, needed if patrons wish to dance.

Officially described as “The Out NYC: a hospitality and entertainment destination geared to the gay community,” the project, due to be completed by early next year, is informally dubbed “a hetero-friendly urban resort” by its developers.

In addition to 123 guest rooms and a 10,000-square-foot dance club capable of serving 750 patrons, the project — which will renovate a three-story building originally developed as a Travel Inn in 1960 to accommodate the crowds expected at the 1964 World’s Fair and later used by the Red Cross, before it was abandoned several years ago — will also include a gym, spa, restaurant, and 24/7 café, making it the most ambitious commercial development ever to court New York’s gay community.

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