The Plan: GDSNY Aiming for 5-Star Hotel Vibes in Met Tower Offices

Is it an office or a hotel? Who can tell?

That wonder is what you’re meant to experience upon entering the new lobby at GDSNY’s Metropolitan Tower.

Located at 142 West 57th Street, the Met Tower features 273,000 square feet of office, and has recently undergone a redevelopment that includes some new amenity areas and major updates to the lobby — all of which are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026.

“The building was built in 1986 and the current lobby was renovated in the late `90s or early 2000s, so it hasn’t been touched in a while,” Michael Kirchmann, CEO of GDSNY, said. “Today that lobby is all black stone, very dark, and there are some older LEDs. What we’re doing is the complete opposite of that.”

The new lobby will feature high-quality natural materials, silver travertine flooring and an abundance of natural light designed to make the Met Tower look more like a Ritz-Carlton than an office building. The Met Tower lobby will also be expanded to include a restaurant for both tenant and public use, designed to mimic the lobby-restaurant combinations found at many five-star hotels.

“One of the big moves we’re making is that there’s a retail space alongside the lobby that was historically leased out separately for retail use,” Kirchmann said. “We’re incorporating that into the lobby to expand the size of the lobby and provide the tenants and the neighborhood with a new food service option.”

GDSNY tries to operate its office buildings as if they were luxury hotels, Kirchmann added. He noted the importance of having top-notch hospitality services as part of the office experience, since employees have to want to be back in the office, especially if employers are going to mandate their return.

“We’re very focused on hospitality. Even our front desk staffers are ex-heads of concierge at the Ritz-Carlton and other hotels,” Kirchmann said. “We picture office buildings and office culture being very hospitality and service driven.”

Keeping the hotel hospitality theme in mind, GDSNY is also adding a tenant-only club and amenity space to Met Tower that will act as a third space, allowing employees throughout the building to step away from their desks but remain productive.

Features of the tenant club will include a pool table and bar, as well as studio space and a media room that can expand into a 40-person screening room.

With this space “we’re going for more of a members club-type atmosphere,”  Kirchmann said. “So it’s going to have darker materials, but the materials will still be of very high quality. There will be lots of millwork, stone countertops, a stone bar, and just some beautiful detailing that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill are doing. … It gives you a sort of flexible, multi-programmable space.”

The Met Tower is currently 75 percent leased. GDSNY is getting ready to unveil two prebuilt spaces on the fifth and 16th floors.

“COVID-19 changed our perception on the way offices should be,” Kirchmann said. “And over the last five years, there’s been many changes in the way office space has been designed, and we see it in all the great examples now with some of these real strong tenant-led businesses, where people love to work.”

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.