The TWA Flight Center at JFK will be getting a major makeover next year. In this Travel report, Time Warner Cable News’ Valarie D’Elia has details on how you can catch a glimpse an iconic airline terminal this weekend.
If you are wondering what it was like to fly in the golden age of travel, then pack your curiosity and head to JFK on October 18. The TWA Flight Center, which officially closed 15 years ago, will open its doors to the public as it has in past years, as part of the Open House New York weekend.
"We hope to have a lot of TWA aficionados, building fans and architecture aficionados, aviation aficionados, so we think it is going to be very exciting to see the building before and then in 2018 when we bring it back to life, in its historic context," says Tyler Morse of MCR Development.
After many delays in choosing a firm to turn the historic airline terminal into a 505-room hotel, with six restaurants and four bars, MCR Development recently got final approval from the Port Authority to move forward with a two-year construction project breaking ground next year.
"The project is a total rehabilitation of the flight center, so the building that you know and love since 1962 is being brought back to life exactly as it was in 1962," Morse says.
Neighbor jetBlue is a five percent stakeholder in the venture that will preserve the national status of the soaring landmark designed by acclaimed architect Eero Saarinen. Two 6-story towers and an observation deck will flank the 125,000 square foot retro lobby.
"So you can overlook the runways and sip a martini and watch the planes take off and land," Morse says.
The TWA Flight Center is open for free from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 18