Extell's Torch Tower Lands Hyatt's StandardX as Hotel

Developer Extell has named StandardX, a Hyatt Hotels brand making its North American debut, as the operator behind the hotel inside The Torch, the tower it is raising at 740 Eighth Avenue in Times Square, Commercial Observer reported. The flag, branded StandardX Times Square and addressed at 255 West 45th Street, is planned for roughly 1,800 rooms, enough to rank among the city’s largest hotels.

Why it matters

Naming an operator is what turns a construction project into a revenue plan. Extell built The Torch on debt, including the $1.3 billion construction loan it closed in September that we covered in our prior reporting on the project. Securing a national flag, through what is reported as a 40-year franchise term that adds $60 million to the project’s capital stack, lets Extell start booking rooms and group business and start underwriting the stabilized income that justifies the debt already on the tower. Ari Alowan Goldstein, Extell’s senior vice president, said in a statement that “the StandardX team shares our vision for creating places that stand apart.”

The numbers

StandardX Times Square is set for roughly 1,800 keys inside a 60-story tower designed by ODA, which stood roughly half built as of August, per New York YIMBY. Beyond the hotel itself, Extell’s plans call for roughly 130,000 square feet set aside for advertising signage, another 94,000 square feet planned for restaurants and bars, three separate observation decks, and a 250-foot thrill ride built into the tower’s base, by Commercial Observer’s count. Extell has told Tel Aviv Stock Exchange investors to expect $250 million to $270 million in stabilized annual net operating income once the tower stabilizes, a projection it tied to the same September construction loan.

What’s next

Commercial Observer frames the Hyatt tie-up as signed, not pending, noting a separate 15-year restaurant partnership alongside the hotel franchise, so this reads as a confirmed operator rather than a deal still being negotiated. No completion date for the tower or the hotel was given. The filing to watch next is whatever permit or franchise paperwork turns this into formal city records, and how a brand this size performs against the rest of Extell’s Manhattan pipeline.