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Union Square just got its swagger back. After a two-year, $100 million glow-up, the W New York – Union Square officially reopens today, reclaiming its role as the brand’s global flagship and showing off the kind of over-the-top personality only this neighborhood can handle.
The Beaux-Arts landmark on Park Avenue South has been scrubbed, polished and reborn, from its iconic grand staircase (now wrapped in a splashy, color-drenched carpet) to the city’s newest perch in the sky: Union Square’s only rooftop bar. Designed by AvroKO, the indoor-outdoor space tips a wink to downtown’s art-and-nightlife heyday, channeling a little Warhol Factory glam while serving up golden-hour cocktails with skyline views.
Inside, the brand’s signature Living Room concept has gone full drama. Rockwell Group, the same design studio that dreamed up the original W back in 2001, has returned to layer Union Square Park’s seasonal colors into velvet banquettes, soaring marble columns, and botanical chandeliers. By day, the Living Room Café pours Devoción coffee; by night, it morphs into a cocktail hub complete with DJ sets, art activations and performances that aim to lure locals as much as hotel guests.
Upstairs, 256 revamped rooms lean into a maximalist-meets-metro vibe, with ombré wallpapers, velvet headboards and cheeky New York nods like chessboard side tables and taxi cab-yellow faucet handles. Even the bathrooms get a wink with gridline tiling that riffs on the subway. The penthouse suite sprawls more than 1,200 square feet, with wraparound views that might make you reconsider signing your lease.
Food-wise, the hotel is doubling down on seafood. This fall will see the debut of Seahorse, a brasserie from John McDonald (of Lure Fishbar fame). Expect tuna crudo, lobster toasts and plenty of martinis in a mother-of-pearl–trimmed dining room with its own Park Avenue entrance.
Wellness junkies aren’t left out either. The former subterranean bar has been reborn as FIT, a next-gen gym with the brand’s first in-hotel Peloton Studio and a recovery zone stocked with hydro-massage chairs—because in 2025, even your cooldown deserves luxury branding.
“This is where our story began, and this global flagship reintroduction is about more than honoring our legacy,” said George Fleck, the brand’s global leader. “It’s about leading the next chapter of what a luxury lifestyle brand can be.”
Consider the tone set.
