Growing up in New York, Jeffrey Beers, founder and CEO of his namesake local firm, has no shortage of music-fueled memories. There was his first concert at the Fillmore East seeing Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King; years later, he was lucky enough to attend Studio 54’s opening night. There wasn’t a liquor license, but “everybody had an absolutely glorious time dancing the night away,” he recalls. “It was daylight when we came out.” Beers also fondly remembers one storied block of W. 48th Street off Broadway when it was dubbed Music Row. It was “filled with recording studios and shops. It was all about the music,” he says.

It’s poetic, then, that Beers and his team are ushering in a contemporary musical chapter for that same Midtown street with the Hard Rock Hotel New York. A 446-key new-build, high-rise some six years in the making, the flagship property required what Beers describes as “a structural feat” in the form of an 85-foot-deep excavation.

Having worked on a number of previous Hard Rock hotels, Beers was well-versed in the brand’s DNA. But this time around, he and Hard Rock International chairman Jim Allen looked at the location as a new opportunity, one that would be home to “a grand, urban New York property,” he says.

As expected at a Hard Rock outpost, there is ample music memorabilia from the likes of Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, and John Lennon, but many of these cultural relics are presented in beveled glass boxes with “an artistic, modern” flourish, says Beers. They are balanced throughout by elegant touches like Paldao wood veneer and a vibrant color palette of royal blue and gold, as well as elements that pay more subtle homage to music.

For example, the three-story atrium, which starts at the ground level entrance, stars sound wave patterns embedded in the stone flooring and a glass and Calacatta marble grand staircase, which appears as if it is propped up by guitar strings leading from the entrance to the lobby. There is also the Venue on Music Row, a bi-level entertainment hub inspired by old New York jazz clubs, and the bronze-paneled reception and concierge desks accented with light fixtures reminiscent of records. At night, Beers says the lighting “brings on this theatrical feel.”

Bi-level entertainment hub the Venue on Music Row is inspired by jazz clubs and speakeasies of old New York

The lobby is also home to Sessions Restaurant & Bar, which showcases a silver onyx bar and fluted columns, as well as a striking circular layout that was designed with a nightclub in mind so “no matter where you are, from the check-in to the bar to the restaurant, you’re seeing people coming and going,” Beers explains. The lobby also features music memorabilia framed in custom millwork with brass accents. “Everybody loves the lobby because it’s warm and inviting,” says Beers. “It’s a very New York moment.”

RT60, the popular roof hangout on the 34th floor, flaunts jade-hued upholstery and “a sporty sort of New York speakeasy” atmosphere, as Beers puts it, singling out the lounge’s duo of commodious north- and south-facing terraces that make “you feel like you’re on top of New York.”

At NYY Steak, a licensing agreement with the New York Yankees, players’ signatures grace a wall and the chairs take cues from leather baseball glove stitching. Here, Beers highlights the mirrored ceiling and columns that help give the illusion of spaciousness, along with the inlaid marble floor, Macassar wood walls, and a blue azure bartop with leather.

Jade-hued banquettes and brass detailing create a moody atmosphere at RT60, located on the 34th floor

Classic guestrooms, at 325 square feet, also have “a high-end feel,” says Beers, noting the brass paneling and dramatic headboards. Of the suites, the impressive glass-enclosed, two-story Rock Star, complete with private entry from the rooftop bar, is the most sought after. Melding 2,000 square feet each of indoor and outdoor space, it is decked out with a freestanding red lacquer tub in the glass-walled bathroom and more pared-back additions, including the living room carpet with a 1970s mod feel. “It’s very rock ’n’ roll. It’s very European,” Beers points out. “Everything speaks to each other. Even though there are a lot of details, there is a continuum. Everything is very harmonious and complementary of each other.”

Beers describes the project as a labor of love. “Attention to detail is something we paid a lot of time and effort.” And as a New Yorker, he adds, “I’m very proud that this hotel is here.”

This is the fourth episode in our HDTV video series, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing hospitality projects.