TWA Hotel Opens at JFK

The old TWA terminal at JFK International Airport, which sat vacant for more than 20 years, opened in May as the TWA Hotel. HTC President Peter Ward was invited for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, where he joined the hotel’s developers and elected officials in celebrating the hotel’s opening.

Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward attending the ribbon cutting at the TWA Hotel at JFK International Airport. From left to right are NY City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Tyler Morse, CEO and Managing Partner of MCR and MORSE Development, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Ward, Robin Hayes, CEO, JetBlue, and Kevin J. O'Toole, Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The hotel will have 512 rooms, while the original TWA terminal, which was originally designed by renowned architect, Eero Saarinen, will house the lobby, a bar and cocktail lounge and dining possibilities. The hotel will have a food hall, event (banquet) facilities and a rooftop pool. Best of all, the hotel has a neutrality agreement with HTC.

The.developers of the TWA hotel, MCR and MORSE Development, spent almost $300 million on buildng the hotel. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson were among the elected officials at the ribbon cutting.

"The TWA building was ahead of its time, and it represented New York's vision and creativity and boldness and outside-the-box thinking," Cuomo said at the ribbon cutting. "This rebirth of the TWA Hotel says we haven't lost our imagination, our boldness, our creativity, our daring — and we are still one step ahead of everyone else!"

As members will recall from his last visit to our union hall, Governor Cuomo is investing billions of dollars in a project to modernize JFK Airport, including the connection of terminals and infrastructure improvements. The TWA Hotel, with its sleek look and central location at JFK, fits in nicely with the plan to modernize the airport.