Extell Development this week applied to demolish part of a block in Hell’s Kitchen to build a venue that will host a hologram show featuring the Swedish pop band ABBA. As first reported by Crain’s, the firm seeks to raze a string of low-rise buildings in Hell’s Kitchen—formerly home to a strip club, a dance club, and a lumberyard—between 11th Avenue and West 45th and 46th Streets. The new venue will become the permanent home for ABBA Voyage, a production designed by the legendary 1970s pop group featuring holograms of their younger selves, according to the New York Times.
ABBA Voyage debuted in London in 2022, featuring the group’s members—Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad—now in their 70s and 80s. The show is marketed as presenting the four “performing for their fans at their very best.”
According to Curbed, the members reportedly spent years developing their holograms in collaboration with a team of producers to craft the 100-minute performance. This process included five weeks of filming the four in motion-capture suits and the work of 140 animators from Industrial Light & Magic, the visual-effects firm behind numerous Marvel films.
Last year, the city’s Economic Development Corporation told the Times that the construction project is expected to generate 638 construction jobs, while the completed venue would provide 196 full-time positions.
Those projections are based on the show’s success in London, where it runs seven performances a week and, as of November 2025, has sold 3.5 million tickets since its 2022 debut.
The production will be housed in a 174,842-square-foot concert venue with room for 3,000 attendees, with an expected completion date of 2028.
Plans to bring the entertainment production to Hell’s Kitchen have been in the works for years. Extell CEO Gary Barnett had been working to gain control of the expansive assemblage from owner Robert Gans after acquiring $116 million in outstanding mortgage debt on the properties.
In 2021, SL Green Realty signed a letter of intent to acquire the properties by paying off the debt and giving Robert Gans $100 million in cash, but the deal never materialized, according to Crain’s.
The sites include a corner property at 603 West 45th Street, 614 West 46th Street, and 617 11th Avenue. The properties also feature two auto-repair garages, a former pizzeria, and an L-shaped parking lot that runs through the block, according to Crain’s.
In November, Extell and its partner firm, Bluestone Group, received nearly $50 million in tax breaks from the city’s Industrial Development Agency to acquire the property.
Gans initially tried to block the move by suing Extell and Bluestone in 2022, calling it a “predatory scheme” to take the sites. He later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but abruptly withdrew the petition in early 2023, suggesting he had agreed to surrender the properties to creditors.
Following a busy 2025, Extell Development continues to expand its Manhattan portfolio. In January, the firm entered a contract to purchase the development site at 405–415 Park Avenue, along with air rights from the Central Synagogue.
On the Upper West Side, the firm is constructing a 90-story skyscraper at the former ABC campus at 77 West 66th Street, which is set to become the neighborhood’s tallest, surpassing its existing controversial building across the street at 50 West 66th Street, as 6sqft previously reported.
The firm also filed plans for a 25-story tower at 36 West 66th Street in Lincoln Square, and in November, purchased $36 million in air rights from Midtown’s historic St. Thomas Church at 678 Fifth Avenue.
Elsewhere, Extell is developing a 29-story office and retail tower at 570 Fifth Avenue, between West 46th and 47th Streets, according to The Real Deal.
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