The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel recently finished a $20 million renovation of its ballroom, meeting rooms, and pre-function space as part of the hotel's $185 million renovation. The Metropolitan Ballroom is the largest event space and holds as many as 2,500 guests for receptions and 1,600 for banquets. The redesign, from Wilson Associates, emphasizes natural light and warm colors and features a circular motif from the carpet to the light fixtures.
Verboten, which for a decade produced deep house and techno parties at venues across New York, is opening its own 10,000-square-foot club. Set to open at the end of the summer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the club will be able to accommodate about 750 people. It will have two rooms—the larger will feature modern industrial design with exposed joists, a reclaimed wood dance floor, raised seating areas, and steel accents. The smaller room is intended to be an elegant cabaret with plush leather banquettes, tufted daybeds, and aged neon chandeliers. The space will have three stages, two DJ booths and DJ equipment, a V.I.P. entrance, in-house catering, and a full kitchen.
Home to this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Citi Field is a massive venue for non-baseball events as well. The 43,000-seat ballpark, which opened in 2009, has multiple spaces for corporate event rental. The largest space is the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the 19,000-square-foot entrance with a capacity for 1,500 people. Elsewhere, the 10,000-square-foot Excelsior Club holds 600, the Acela Club restaurant seats 350, and an auditorium has space for 150.
Gotham Stages, a new independent venue in Greenpoint, is a 10,000-square-foot raw event space with Manhattan skyline views as well as a 5,000-square-foot parking lot.
The New York Hilton Midtown, this year marking its 50th anniversary, boasts the city's largest grand ballroom. The hotel's Grand Ballroom Suite is 25,202 square feet and can seat 2,800 and fit 3,300 theater-style. The column-free space contains a stage with hydraulic lifts and is set to undergo a renovation next year.
A combination restaurant and entertainment attraction, Jekyll & Hyde Club in Times Square has two levels of seating and a mezzanine area. The venue takes its inspiration from the 19th century novel and decor features leather banquettes and dark wood, along with themed details such as skeletons, taxidermy, and bookcase-lined shelves. Buyouts are available for events of as many as 500 people.
Opening in late 2013 in the former H&H Bagel factory, Metropolitan West will offer 24,000 square feet over two floors along with rooftop access. Each floor will accommodate 450 seated guests or 700 for receptions and has 14-foot ceilings with 360-degree views of the Hudson river and Manhattan skyline. Metropolitan West is from the same team behind Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea and will have a full sound system, an LED lighting installation, Wi-Fi, and other technical features.
The largest single room at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is Javits Center North with 80,000 gross square feet of exhibit space. The space seats 3,300 for banquets; 5,500 theater-style, and 4,200 for classroom seating. Other large rooms at the convention center include the Special Events Hall with 30,000 square feet and room for 3,200 theater-style and 1,200 for banquets and receptions, as well as the Galleria/River Pavilion, which has 45,000 gross square feet and seats 1,200 for banquets and 3,100 for receptions. The convention center is finishing a renovation that will add a green roof and other amenities to the building by the end of the year.
Big Times Square restaurants are back with Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant opening its first location in the city at Broadway and 45th Street. The family-style restaurant is available for buyouts and seats 250 guests in a variety of groupings, including a booth in the kitchen. The vibe is an eclectic vintage setting, with irreverent photographs, strings of multicolored decorative lights, and gingham tablecloths.
Ten years after Marquee opened, the Chelsea mega-club has a new life following a multimillion-dollar renovation in January that created a new entrance, reconfigured the interior, expanded the stage, and upgraded the audiovisual experience to a Funktion-One sound system that can be synced with images on a massive LED screen and five moveable rigs of LED lights. Events at the 1,200-person club can take over the entire venue or two smaller areas, the mezzanine or a main-floor alcove room dubbed “the Boombox.”
