Hilfiger’s Hotel Concept By Madison Park

Tommy Hilfiger and a business partner have just signed a contract for $170 million for the Clock Tower office building near Madison Square Park. He is hoping convert the Clock Tower into a hip, luxury hotel near the ever-blossoming neighborhood of NoMad. The project is one of many new hotels under way as the city’s lodging industry recovers from the economic downturn with rebounding room rates and lower vacancies.

Other big fashion names also have expanded into the hotel world. Versace has hotels in Australia and Dubai, and Armani also has hotels.

Tommy Hilfiger, who is still a principal designer for the fashion company he founded, has been looking to launch a hotel for some time, say people familiar with the matter and this seems like the right opportunity. Just earlier this year,  he and real-estate investor JSR Capital put in a bid of about $110 million for eight floors at the former New York Times building on West 43rd Street to create a hotel there. But Mr. Hilfiger and JSR Capital later changed their mind, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Clock Tower at 5 Madison Ave. was completed in 1909 for use by insurer MetLife Inc. Designed by architect Napoleon LeBrun after the Campanile di San Marco in Venice, the 700-foot tower was the tallest building in the world until it was surpassed by the Woolworth building in Lower Manhattan in 1913.

Via WSJ