#Times Square Margaritaville with pool to open amid COVID pandemic

Musician and businessman Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Resort empire is coming to Manhattan and, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, plans to open in Times Square late this spring. 

Initially set to open in fall 2020, the new Midtown leisure behemoth will feature: 234 guest rooms, 4,861-square-feet of ground-floor retail space, five restaurants and bars (License to Chill Bar, 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar, Landshark Bar & Grill, Joe Merchant and Margaritaville Restaurant), Times Square’s only outdoor pool, sweeping rooftop views and at least one margarita-equipped Statue of Liberty replica across its 32-story building at 560 Seventh Ave., Curbed reported based on renderings.

Construction is estimated to have cost about $300 million. An exact date was not given but it’s set to open amid an industry-wide crisis.

The lot previously held a six-story Parsons School of Design building, the first floor of which was occupied by the Garment Center Congregation temple. (The synagogue managed to maintain pricey commercial property thanks to its rent being just $1 a year due to a 99-year 1970s-era lease.) When the New School sold the building in 2014, the buyer was required to negotiate with the temple, and ultimately came to the agreement the new building would house the congregation, Curbed reported. 

While cheeseburgers are not allowed in the Jewish heaven on Earth, onion slices certainly are, and Garment Center’s new home is equipped with a kosher kitchen as well as a terrace and two below-ground levels, in addition to a first-floor space. It will be the Margaritaville conglomerate’s first in-house temple. 

The Jewish house of worship sets the new Manhattan Margaritaville apart, but it’s otherwise quite humble in comparison to the over 20 other Margaritaville locations, which feature spas, zip lines, erupting volcanoes and even an amusement park at the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, branch.

NYC guests, however, will be able to enjoy valet parking, a gym, laundry, Keurig coffee makers, walk-in rain showers and other amenities.

“Margaritaville Resort Times Square will bring an authentic no worries vibe to the city that never sleeps,” the resort’s homepage promises to potential customers and tourists.