Herald Square Demolition Filer Is Jeff Sutton's Wharton Properties

The Herald Square demolition filer we reported on September 15 as untraceable to any city record has a name after all. Commercial Observer reports it is Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties, clearing two low-rise buildings at 21-29 West 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building, for a 340-key hotel, and that a $50,000,000 pre-foreclosure dispute with lender Helaba over the site was settled last month with Wharton regaining control.

Why it matters

The hotel is not a new plan. DOB NOW’s own record shows a New Building job filed in April 2021 and approved in July 2022 for a 26-story, 340-unit hotel on the larger lot, owner of record Wharton Properties, four years before any outlet put a name to this block. What changed is not the design, it is that the site is finally clear to build it: the September 11 demolition filings we could not tie to an owner are the mechanism, and Wharton’s own approved permit is the destination.

The numbers

Wharton borrowed $50,000,000 against 29 West 34th Street from Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen (Helaba) in August 2018, recorded through 29 West 34 Owner LLC at Wharton’s own Fifth Avenue address. ACRIS shows that loan moving twice in 2026: an assignment recorded June 29 sent it from Helaba to 29 W. 34th Street Holdings LLC, and a second assignment recorded July 15 sent it on to 29 W. 34th Street Lender LLC, both routed through Manhattan law firm addresses. That is the paper trail behind Commercial Observer’s account of a pre-foreclosure suit settled last month with Wharton back in control of the site.

The approved hotel itself runs 204,801 sq ft of floor area, 299 ft tall, on a footprint of about 17,398 sq ft. Commercial Observer reports Sonder, the original operator behind an April 2022 lease at the site, collapsed into bankruptcy in late 2025, and that no new operator has been named for the 340 keys.

What’s next

Both September 11 demolition jobs sit in Plan Examiner Review. Once they clear, the approved 2022 hotel filing is what gets built, unless Wharton amends it. Neither Wharton nor Keyah, the hospitality firm tied to the filing contact on the demolition jobs, responded to Commercial Observer’s requests for comment.

See our original report on the untraceable demolition filer and more coverage in the New York market.