Looking down on the terminal from the London Club; Photo courtesy of TWA Hotel/David Mitchell

The much-anticipated rebirth of Eero Saarinen’s historic TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport is complete. The TWA Hotel officially opened on Wednesday, more than two years after the project broke ground in Queens and over 18 years since the iconic 1962 terminal shuttered. The project was developed by MCR and MORSE Development and designed by architecture firm LUBRANO CIAVARRA. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects handled the restoration of the original Flight Center to prepare for the hotel. The two six-story crescent-shaped buildings contain 512 rooms, a rooftop infinity pool and observation deck, event space, food hall, luxury fitness center, and retro cocktail bar.

Hotels, Museums, New Developments, Queens

JFK’s TWA Hotel will curate exhibitions of rare Jet Age artifacts and memorabilia

Image courtesy of MCR and Morse Development

Guests of the TWA Flight Center Hotel—set to open on May 15—will be able to experience the Jet Age through exhibitions of Trans World Airlines artifacts curated by the New-York Historical Society. Flight attendant’s logs, vintage furniture from TWA headquarters, in-flight amenities—like gilded playing cards and custom matchbooks—are some of the types of objects that will be on view in a rotating series of exhibitions dedicated to the former TWA terminal, a historic landmark designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and opened in 1962.

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Hotels, Queens

See the TWA Hotel’s airplane-turned-cocktail lounge make the 300-mile journey to JFK via tow truck

Connie passes under the Eastern Trail in Maine; Courtesy of TWA Hotel, photo by Aaron Flacke

Over the last week, a 1958 Lockheed Constellation, or “Connie,” made its way from Maine to its new home in Queens at JFK Aiport, where it will become a cocktail lounge at the TWA Hotel. Traveling 300 miles through five states, the Connie, with a “Queens or Bust!” sign on its back, was disassembled, loaded on two separate tow trucks, and escorted by state police and civilians. Connie, one of only four remaining L-1648As in the world, will sit on the “tarmac” outside of the 512-room hotel.

Architecture, Hotels, New Developments

First look at the glamorous, sixties-inspired guest rooms at the TWA Hotel

Image via David Mitchell

Guests staying at the TWA Flight Center Hotel will be transported back to 1962 through rooms decorated with Eero Saarinen-designed Knoll furnishings, martini bars and terrazzo-tiled bathrooms with Hollywood-style vanities. MCR and MORSE Development unveiled on Tuesday a model of the guest rooms at the hotel, located at the John F. Kennedy Airport, part of the landmark flight center’s restoration and repurposing. Scheduled to open in 2019, the 512-room hotel is found in two low-rise, wing-shaped buildings behind the flight center, an homage to Saarinen’s iconic design. The center will serve as the hotel’s lobby, measuring 200,000 square feet, the largest hotel lobby in the world. The buildings, which officially topped out last month, will have a seven-layer, soundproofed-glass facade to provide the ultimate quiet retreat.

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adaptive reuse, Architecture, Construction Update, Hotels, New Developments

Ahead of next year’s opening, TWA Hotel’s second tower tops out

Photo by Max Touhey

MCR and Morse Development’s repurposing of Eero Saarinen’s historic TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport into a hotel, event space and dining destination continues to move full speed ahead. The second crescent-shaped tower of the TWA Hotel officially topped out this week, nearly a year ahead of its spring 2019 opening. The hotel will contain 505 rooms, a rooftop pool, an observation deck, eight bars and restaurants and 50,000 square feet of event space. Saarinen’s landmarked TWA Flight Center terminal building will serve as the hotel lobby, a 200,000-square-foot space with retail, restaurants and bars.

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adaptive reuse, Architecture, Hotels, New Developments

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

Image courtesy of MCR and Morse Development; Photo: Max Touhey.

MCR and Morse Development announced this week the topping out of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport less than a year after breaking ground on the project. Designed by celebrated 20th-century architect Eero Saarinen in 1962, The hotel is set to reopen in early 2019, when it will become JFK’s only on-airport hotel. Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center terminal building will serve as the hotel’s lobby; at 200,000 square feet, it is thought to be the world’s largest hotel lobby. Hotel guests and passengers will be able to access the hotel through the famous Saarinen passenger tubes that connect directly to JFK’s Terminal 5 as well as through via the AirTrain system.

Find out more about the rebirth of this mid-century modern icon