Extell Development has purchased air rights in Midtown next to a lot on which it plans to develop a Hard Rock Hotel.

Extell and Hard Rock Hotel have proposed a 445-room hotel on 151-159 West 48th St., in the theater district of Midtown, on a lot that currently contains two small buildings and a parking garage. To get the permitted height for its building, Extell purchased 45K SF of air rights from a small, nearby park owned by the Rockefeller Group, adjacent to its office building at 1221 Sixth Ave., the New York Post reports.

With those air rights, Extell now has 225K SF of permissible size for the hotel, though no formal demolition or construction plans have been filed with the city. The holdup, according to the Post, is over two adjacent buildings on 49th Street owned by developer Bennett Brodie.

Brodie, according to a lawsuit Extell filed against him in December, has refused to come to terms on an agreement over how the demolition and hotel construction would protect his properties. Despite the delay, Extell and Hard Rock have not adjusted their prediction of a spring 2019 delivery on the hotel.