First NYC ground-up time share hits market

Earlier this month, Manhattan welcomed its newest time share vacation club: West 57th Street by Hilton Club, located at 104 West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The facility is the first ground-up residential shared ownership property ever developed in New York City.

West 57th Street by Hilton Club is Hilton Grand Vacations’ newest hotel in the heart of Manhattan. The 28-story building situated on the site of the former Horn & Hardart Automat has a total of 161 studios and one-bedroom suites.

The facility offers visitors a complimentary continental breakfast and presently offers a no-cost cocktail reception in the evenings.

During the past year Hilton has been marketing for sale per-week time vacation ownership. In a press release last year, it was noted that select deeded real estate interests are available for purchase at an average price of $58,000 per week to more than $100,000 per week for a penthouse, which also includes membership in the Hilton Grand Vacations Club.

Hilton Grand Vacations is a division of Hilton Hotels. Hilton Grand Vacations markets and operates vacation ownership resorts in select locations including South Beach, Orlando, Las Vegas and Hawaii. In addition, owners who purchase at West 57th Street are offered resort exchange through the Hilton Grand Vacations Club system of resorts.

A Hilton Grand Vacation Club is also located in the New York Hilton hotel at 1335 Avenue of the Americas on the 37th and 38th floors of the building. The Hilton Club features studios and one- and two-bedroom suite apartments. At the present time, West 57th Street by Hilton Club is also being offered as a hotel, with studios running $299 per night.

In addition to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club, prospective purchasers have an opportunity for time share ownership at the Manhattan Club, located at 200 West 56th Street. The Manhattan Club is accessed through the side entrance of the former Omni Park Central Hotel. Developer Ian Bruce Eichner acquired the hotel in a bankruptcy sale from VMS Partners for $60.225 million, or approximately $42,115 per room. Eichner converted approximately 250 rooms into time shares, selling the units at an average price of $19,000 per week. As with the Hilton, Manhattan Club buyers can trade their weeks for any one of RCI’s 3,500 locations in 85 countries.

Time shares are available at the St. Regis, and another shared property ownership option, fractional ownership, is available at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park South, in which an occupant can reserve a room for a specified number of days.

Another time share vacation club is the Phillips Club, an extended-stay hotel on the four floors of the Grand Millennium at 1965 Broadway between West 67th and 68th streets. Instead of one- or two-week ownership, purchasers buy an equity stake, entitling them to occupy an apartment for 45 days per year. In 1999 when the property was built for sale, prices ranged from $110,000 for a junior suite, $130,000 to $180,000 for a one-bedroom, $220,000 for a two-bedroom and $270,000 for a three-bedroom unit.

Michael Stoler is a columnist for The Real Deal and host of real estate programs “The Stoler Report” and “Building New York” on CUNY TV and on WEGTV in East Hampton. His radio show, “The Michael Stoler Real Estate Report,” airs on 1010 WINS on Saturdays and Sundays. Stoler is a director at Madison Realty Capital as well as an adjunct professor at NYU Real Estate Institute, and a former contributing editor and columnist for the New York Sun.