Room for Hilton on 42nd St.

We wrote in January that the grim era for West 42nd Streets south blockfront between Sixth Avenue and Broadway was just about over. Now, subtract just about.

A midline-priced Hilton Garden Inn is under construction next door to the as yet unflagged, 4.5-star hotel at the former Knickerbocker site a crucial step in the ongoing transformation of the long-neglected blockfront.

The 282-room Hilton at 136 W. 42nd St. is being developed by a Highgate Holdings joint venture, which has a contract to sell the 37-story property to Diamond Rock Hospitality for $445,000 per key when its finished in early 2014.

After two years of silence over the new inns identity, Diamond Rock spilled the Hilton beans in a recent summary of its fourth-quarter 2011 results. (So did a recently mounted sign at the construction site.)

With all necessary permits in place, excavation is at last noisily underway.

Meanwhile, FelCorLodging Trust is set to turn the old Knickerbocker at the Broadway corner into 330 hotel rooms. FelCor recently bought the landmark structures 14 upper floors from a Highgate-led JV for $109 million.

FelCor CEO Richard Smith told investors on a conference call this month that what he termed the 4.5-star Knickerbocker, a k a 1466 Broadway, will be the companys flagship when it opens early next year.

Both developments are long overdue. The blocks north side office towers, the Durst Organizations One Bryant Park and 4 Times Square, stood in stark contrast to much of the south side.

The eyesores included the long-in-limbo Knickerbocker, the empty lot (once a flea market) where the Hilton is rising, seemingly permanent scaffolding on Bush Tower also landmarked and low-rise structures now being demolished for a retail glass box.

Both the Knickerbocker and the Hilton Garden site changed hands several times in the past few years, stalling redevelopment until recently. Now, the blockfront is in for a retail renaissance as well.

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Room for Hilton on 42nd St.