Moxy Hotels launches its NYC flagship in a landmarked Midtown building

Tiny rooms, trendy restaurants, and low prices

There's no shortage of millennial-focused hotel brands that are currently trying to gain a foothold in New York City; in the past few years, a bevy of new hotels that offer trendy spots to hang out, tech-friendly perks, and—crucially—rooms at a lower price point have popped up in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Add Moxy Hotels to that list: this week, the Marriott-affiliated brand opened its Times Square property (located on Seventh Avenue at 36th Street), the first of several hotels that it has planned for New York City.

The hotel, developed by Lightstone Group, is located in a 110-year-old landmarked building; after years serving as an office space, it was thoughtfully renovated by a design team that includes Yabu Pushelberg (known for its much tonier work at hotels like The Four Seasons in the Financial District) and Rockwell Group.

The Moxy ticks all the boxes that you would expect from a brand that calls itself a "boutique-hotel concept for the modern traveler." Its 612 rooms are small, but relatively affordable (rates begin at $134/night); there are plenty of tech-friendly touches, including free Wi-Fi and charging stations next to each bed; and the hotel is outfitted with plenty of cool amenities, including public art pieces, late-night food and drink options, and hip communal spaces.

"It's more focused on today's traveler," explains Mitchell Hochberg, the president of Lightstone Group. "They don't need somebody serving them; they're happy to do things themselves, and they don't want to pay extra for it."

To that end, services once thought of as essential—a bellman to carry your bags, or a minibar in each room—are not part of the Moxy Times Square package. They were "stripped out," in Hochberg's words, in an effort to keep costs down.

Not the the rooms themselves are bare-bones; like the rest of the hotel, they were designed by Yabu Pushelberg, and manage to nail the often-elusive combination of small and stylish. The firm is responsible not only for the look of each "bedroom"—clean and comfortable, with an aesthetic that's part rustic camper, part industrial-chic—but for its furniture, including custom-designed beds, storage, and multi-use tables and chairs.

There are several different room variants, all meant to appeal to a different sort of traveler; king and queen rooms, for instance, work for those used to more traditional hotel rooms, while a "twin quad"—with four twin beds in a 220-square-foot space—would be better for a group of friends who doesn't mind getting up in each other's space. There are also 120-square-foot "crash pads," which go for $99/night and are intended for someone who simply needs to, well, crash for a night.

The hotel also offers a bevy of communal spaces, including meeting rooms (which, in keeping with the whole younger clientele thing, are designed to be more like co-working spots than typical conference rooms), a lounge in the Seventh Avenue atrium, and several bar and restaurant options.

The latter were programmed by TAO Group and include a fast-casual breakfast spot, a seafood restaurant, and the expansive rooftop bar, all of which were designed by Rockwell Group. The rooftop bar, named Magic Hour, is being described as an "urban amusement park," with a number of ridiculous amenities—including a meant-to-be-Instagrammed mini-golf course called Foreplay—that Hochberg hopes will draw in not just hotel guests, but also neighborhood residents and other curious parties.

Moxy has big things planned for the next few years; its contested East Village hotel, located across the street from Webster Hall and also developed by Lightstone, is in the works, along with two other NYC hotels.

• Moxy Times Square [Official]