RFR to build new six-star hotel on Fifth

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding is building a luxury hotel on Fifth Avenue, and Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman will arrange financing, said Mark Gordon, a principal and head of Sonnenblick Goldman’s U.S. hotel group.

Sonnenblick Goldman, which merged with Cushman & Wakefield a year ago this month, is looking for equity and operational partners for the hotel, which will also have residential and retail components. The development will be built at the site of two or three low-rise buildings, Gordon said, in the 40s. He declined to identify the exact location.

The Fifth Avenue hotel, which Gordon said could have as many as 250 rooms, will mark one of the first ground-up Hotels On Fifth Avenue in the last couple of decades.

The hotel will have a “six-star” rating, Gordon said, which denotes the highest level of service.

“Six stars is the new star for luxury hotels,” Gordon said.

RFR Holding is also working on a hotel-condo at 610 Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street, at the former site of a YWCA.
 
Rosen was out of the country and unavailable for comment.