This massive $2.2 billion building in Times Square has a plan to transform the 'most trafficked corner in the Western Hemisphere'

TSX Broadway

A rendering of TSX's experiential retail floors.

• Construction is well underway on TSX Broadway, a massive forthcoming venue in the heart of Times Square. In addition to boasting a hotel, theater, restaurant, and an outdoor stage, the building will also feature 75,000 square feet of experiential retail space.
• We talked with David Orowitz - managing director of L&L Holdings, the company behind TSX Broadway - about his vision for the retail space.
• Orowitz said he envisions TSX Broadway will be a haven for technology and media brands looking to showcase new products and host events to a captive audience, using emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When David Levinson and David Orowitz decided to break ground on a $2.2 billion project in Times Square - an undertaking that involves conjoining and renovating multiple buildings that when complete will serve as mix of hotel, retail, and event space - they knew it would come with risk.

Though up to 450,000 people visit Times Square every day, the vast audience doesn't always translate to profit or longevity for retailers in the area thanks to costly real estate prices and fickle consumers.

As New York Times reporter C.J Hughes notes, visitors are already overstimulated by the barrage of stores and flashing signs in the area, not to mention that they may be disenchanted by recent endeavors that failed to stay afloat longterm, such as The N.F.L. Experience Times Square.

Still, that didn't stop Levinson and Orowitz - CEO and managing director of L&L Holding Company, respectively - from demolishing one of the most profitable DoubleTree hotels in the world and lifting the third-largest Broadway theater several stories in an effort to build an updated luxury hotel anchored by 75,000 square feet of retail space.

See also: I visited Showfields and saw why it lives up to its self-proclaimed titled of 'the most interesting store in the world'

"Twenty two cents of every tourist dollar is spent in Times Square," Orowitz told Business Insider. "That level of commercialization is really powerful, for a brand to be able to be associated with a place that is authentic, that everybody has memories of, that everybody goes to when they come to New York."

The building, titled TSX Broadway and expected to be complete in 2022, is located at the intersection of 47th Street and Broadway, which Orowitz called "the most trafficked corner in the Western Hemisphere." Orowitz walked us through renderings of the building and explained his vision for the experiential retail space in advance of its opening.