 In the 1980s, William Zeckendorf, a prominent American real estate developer, assembled of vacant property on 57th Street between Madison and Park Avenue.Robert H. Burns, founder of Regent International Hotels, approached Harunori Takahashi, owner of EIE International Corporation company to build a luxurious hotel on the property.When the hotel was announced in January 1989, it was to have a main tower of 46 stories and a smaller tower of some 20 stories, with a total of 400 rooms.