Designed by Schwartz & Gross, with Herbert J. Krapp as consulting architect, it was developed by brothers Henry and Irwin Chanin and opened on February 1, 1928, as the Hotel Lincoln.

The Row NYC Hotel is on 700 Eighth Avenue, on the eastern sidewalk between 44th and 45th Streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[2] The Row NYC adjoins seven Broadway theaters clockwise from north: the John Golden, Bernard B. Jacobs, Gerald Schoenfeld, Booth, Shubert, Broadhurst, and Majestic.

[5] The hotel is also approximately 100 yards (91 m) west of Shubert Alley, which separates the seven adjacent theaters from One Astor Plaza and the Minskoff Theatre.

[34] Irwin Chanin was an American architect and real estate developer who designed several Art Deco towers and Broadway theaters.

[40][41] By October 1926, the Chanins had decided to construct and operate a theatrical franchise "in New York and half a dozen other large cities in the United States".

[49] That July, the Chanin brothers received a $7.5 million loan for the four developments from S. W. Straus & Co.[8][50] The three theaters were all named in December 1926; from largest to smallest, they were the Majestic, Royale, and Masque.

[21] Krapp's original plans had called for a Spanish-style design, but Irwin Chanin subsequently hired Schwartz & Gross to redesign the hotel.

[71] The Cigar Stores Realty Company bought the Hotel Lincoln in January 1929 as part of a $25 million purchase of multiple properties.

[93] The hotel's Blue Room became a popular venue for name bands, competing with nightclubs for business,[94] and Variety magazine cited the Lincoln as "an important danceband outlet".

[97] The Blue Room's performers included jazz pianist Count Basie;[98] trumpeter Erskine Hawkins;[99] and clarinetist Artie Shaw.

[25][26] On the upper stories, workers patched and repaired the floor slabs and plaster walls, but everything else was replaced, including the wires, plumbing, windows, doors, and roof.

[25] Webb and Knapp started leasing out the hotel's storefronts in April 1957,[134] and Harold Kelley was appointed as the Manhattan's resident manager the same month.

[27] The managers decided to open 750 of the hotel's 1,400 rooms two weeks early[136][137] to accommodate baseball fans attending the World Series.

[148] Harold V. Varr was appointed as the hotel's general manager at the beginning of 1964, after Schel was promoted to a vice president within Zeckendorf's company.

[140] The Eastern College Athletic Conference was headquartered at the Royal Manhattan,[160] and the hotel also hosted events such as British antiques shows.

The Royal Manhattan was one of three shuttered hostelries on Eighth Avenue in Midtown that were having trouble attracting buyers; the others were the New Yorker Hotel and the 51st Street YWCA.

[170][171] The terms of the sale, which one real estate analyst described as "severe", required potential buyers to make mortgage payments for at least five years.

[176] Investors began to express interest in converting hotels to apartment buildings after the New York City government amended its J-51 tax abatement program in early 1976.

[186] The next year, the New York City government's Industrial Commercial Incentive Board voted to grant a tax abatement for the redevelopment.

[195] When the Milford Plaza opened, Manhattan Community Board 5 gave the Milsteins an award "for the courageous reopening of a hotel on Eighth Avenue".

[201] As part of a publicity campaign, Cinema Projects produced a TV advertisement for the hotel called "Lullabuy of Broadway," which first aired on June 21, 1982.

[206] The Milford Plaza underwent another renovation in 1994 at a cost of $10 million; the hotel was financially successful by then, even though its room rates had increased to $120 per night.

[232][233] David Werner, in partnership with Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management's real estate investment business, purchased the land parcel the next month for $325 million,[234][235] about 30 percent more than what Rockpoint and Highgate had paid for the entire hotel three years earlier.

[235] After Werner purchased the land, other investors expressed interest in buying the rooms and retail space as part of a commercial mortgage-backed security deal.

[240] The City Kitchen food court opened at the base of the Row NYC in March 2015,[241][242] and Thor placed the commercial condominium for sale that June, with an asking price of $100 million.

[203][250] The city government agreed that October to use the Row NYC Hotel to house migrants[251][252] as part of an agreement valued at $40 million.

[200] Another writer for Newsday said that the Milford Plaza, along with the nearby New Amsterdam Theatre, ranked among the "imposing, traditional Times Square buildings with classical features".

[259] Conversely, a reviewer for Zagat wrote of the hotel in the late 1980s: "I'd rather camp out in the Port Authority," referring to the nearby bus terminal.

[262] A writer for New York magazine wrote: "Truthfully, the reason most people stay here is location; its proximity to the city's brightest marquees ensures theatergoers can be in bed shortly after the curtain drops.