How a Small Firm Laid the Groundwork for a Multibillion-Dollar Hotel
Marie Aiello Design Studio’s Work for Real Estate Developers
Photo: Paul Boardman.
Alumna Marie Aiello ’04 (AAS), owner and principal of Marie Aiello Design Studio and president of NYSID’s Alumni Council, never expected her first hotel project to be a 470-foot-tall, 669-room superstructure in Times Square called TSX Broadway. This is a story of the power of design as a strategic force in real estate development and the potential for a little firm to make a big mark.
When Marie Aiello pitched her vision for a massive, luxury hotel project at 1568 Broadway in Times Square to the real estate developers L&L Holding Company in 2017, she didn’t shy away from the fact that her boutique firm consisted of only four people; that they were best known for high-end residential projects; or that they’d never designed a hotel before. She found herself presenting to a group of about 20 people, including the management of the investment firm Fortress.
Aiello’s first career was in Hollywood and she’s a former TV movie producer, so the visual storytelling aspect of presentation comes naturally to her. She says, “I’m on the jury of NYSID student presentations often, and I’m pretty tough on them. Your designs might be amazing, but it means nothing if you can’t present and defend them. The key to confidence in presentations is believing in everything you have done and being able to justify every aspect of your design. Everything has to have a reason and a purpose, both strategic and aesthetic. You have to tell a scintillating story.”
On the multiple days of that presentation and weeks leading up to the bid for the TSX Broadway job, she found herself competing against much larger companies and was asked how her firm of four people could deliver on such a massive project. She told them their project would have the sole and undivided attention of her team. She had a professional relationship with the architect, Ted Hammer of Mancini Duffy, and she convinced the group of how seamlessly they had worked together in the past. But ultimately, the reason L&L Holding Company hired her was her concept.
The challenge that L&L Holding Company put forth was daunting. They needed an interior designer to help them make permanent decisions on building the superstructure 18 months before having an operator in place. The design team would help the developer subsequently acquire a global hotel operator for a luxury hotel in Times Square. The property would have to attract a very sophisticated clientele to an area of the city known for its audacious, “in-your-face” energy and commercialism. The development team’s financial pro forma would require the hotel to be massive but feel charming and refined to attract and retain the target customer. “Good design is about understanding the end user of the space. If you’re in Times Square, you made a purposeful voyage to be there. You are unafraid of adventure. So the concept of ‘The Voyager’ came in,” explains Aiello. “The idea was to capture the feeling of awe a person feels when they arrive in New York for the first time. We wanted the space to harken back to Old New York and honor all of the voyagers who made their way to this city over the years. My inspirations were locomotive passenger steam engines and transatlantic cruise ships—early 20th century travel. It had to feel like you were wandering into the city for the first time, otherworldly and grand.”
Renderings by ARX Solutions for Marie Aiello Design Studio and L&L Holding Company.
The epitome of this concept is the breathtaking 11th floor lobby Aiello’s team designed in close coordination with L&L Development leaders and the architects from Mancini Duffy. She says, “I’d hoped you’d step out of the elevator and get a hint of pulling into an old train station, especially with all of that iron work. I wanted it to feel a bit like stepping into Oz, a place of excitement and astonishment because of the magnificence of Times Square.” Aiello fought hard to justify setting the bar and lounge area back beyond the lobby, because standard practice is to put a hotel bar out front. In her presentations, she went back to her concept, the idea of the voyager, and the personality of a person who is enticed to explore more mysterious and distant spaces. She adorned the ceiling of the bar with a pattern of antique maps!
images of model rooms staged by Marie Aiello Design Studio and L&L Holding Company.
Join the Alumni Council Scholarship Challenge
In her role as president of NYSID’s Alumni Council, Marie Aiello and her passionate group of alumni volunteers are challenging the NYSID community to provide $10,000 toward the endowment of a new scholarship for deserving students this year. Half of funds raised will go toward the endowment of a scholarship that will go to future students, and the other half will be given as a scholarship at NYSID’s gala on April 11. To help meet the challenge, reach out to giving@nysid.edu.