VENUE: Apella (Photo Credit: David Hechler)
Manhattan’s ever-changing landscape of historic structures and new developments presents a vast array of options for corporate powwows, marketing affairs and other business-minded functions. Here’s a selection of five top spots from the event experts at BizBash.
For Modern Meetings: Apella
Inside the Alexandria Center for Life Science—a campus for biotechnology firms, science research labs, and pharmaceutical companies—is Apella, a mod meeting site flexible enough for conferences as well as galas. The venue, which comprises 10 rooms of different sizes, boasts some 16,000 square feet of space, an expansive view of the East River, and built-in amenities like power connections embedded into boardroom tables. Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Riverpark, which sits on the floor below Apella, provides the catering. (450 East 29th St., 2nd Floor, 212.706.4100, apella.com)
For Midtown Convenience: Andaz 5th Avenue
Andaz, the boutique brand of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, has outposts a number of cities, including New York, and the location opposite the New York Public Library offers an array of options for meetings and events. In addition to 184 residential-style rooms, Andaz 5th Avenue has a full floor of dedicated function space—6,500 square feet configured into several rooms with an open, communal kitchen as the central gathering point. There’s also a 38-seat restaurant on the ground floor and a subterranean bar with room for 80. (485 Fifth Ave., 212.601.1234, 5thavenue.andaz.com)
For Group Activities: Bowlmor Times Square
Amidst the bustle of Times Square is one of the largest bowling alleys in the city, the 90,000-square-foot Bowlmor Lanes Times Square. In the building once home to The New York Times, this large facility offers 50 lanes divided between seven sections, each of which is styled after a key part of the city, including Chinatown, Central Park, the subway system, and TriBeCa. These semiprivate lane areas can be booked for groups; larger events can take over the dedicated event space known as the New York Salon. (222 West 44th St., 212.680.0012, bowlmor.com)
For Wining and Dining Clients: Empire Room
Hospitality Holdings, the group behind the tony Campbell Apartment and ritzy World Bar at Trump World Tower, operates the Empire Room, a cocktail lounge at the foot of the Empire State Building. Once used as a post office, the 3,500-square-foot space now features an interior furnished with embossed leathers, marble, glass-topped tables, silver leaf, and Macassar ebony wood. The upscale setting, suitable for entertaining clients, is matched by a selection of artfully craft drinks and nibbles. (350 Fifth Ave., Ground Floor, 212.643.5400, hospitalityholdings.com)
For Warm-Weather Functions: Skylight West
Located a couple of blocks east of the Javits Center, Skylight West is an unadorned, gallery-like event venue inside a renovated former garage. Spread across two floors, the site showcases some of the building’s original industrial features, including concrete floors and ceilings, a freight elevator large enough for a small car, and an unmarked brick exterior. The biggest draw is the open rooftop, a 4,500-square-foot space with a 20- by 6-foot billboard that can be used for projections and signage. (500 West 36th St., 212.736.6200, skylightnyc.com)
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