Hospitality giant Hilton is looking at several locations in Manhattan where it would open its first Homewood Suites hotel, which is part of its extended-stay concept, company executive Thomas Lorenzo told The Real Deal.

The move is made in response to other hoteliers expanding in the market, such as Marriott International which has a long-established Residence Inn by Marriott in Midtown at 1033 Sixth Avenue but is slated to open another at the now under development 1717 Broadway at 54th Street, Lorenzo said.

“We want to get one approved [by Hilton] this year,” Lorenzo told The Real Deal in Las Vegas last week at the annual global retail real estate show RECon, hosted by the International Council on Shopping Centers.  [more]

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Hotel developer Sam Chang’s $164.5 million sale of a three-pack of hotels at 337, 339 and 343 West 39th Street in Times Square to Hersha Hospitality Trust was the largest commercial transaction to close in February, data from PropertyShark.com shows. The second largest was the $110 million sale by an affiliate of developer Heritage Partners at 415 Greenwich Street of three commercial and 31 residential units at the 66-unit condominium conversion project in Tribeca, to an affiliate of California-based real estate investment firm KBS Capital Advisors. The next two largest sales were commercial units. In the first, an affiliate of Avenue Capital Group sold four retail condo units at the 115-unit condo conversion Avonova at 219 West 81st Street to an affiliate of Madison Capital for $26.5 million. In the other, an affiliate of the developer World-Wide Group sold three retail condos at 255 East 74th Street to an affiliate of the Related Companies for $25 million. [more]

From left: Sam Chang and the three hotels at 343, 339 and 337 West 39th Street, respectively

Prolific hotel developer Sam Chang sold a trio of attached hotels south of Times Square to Pennsylvania-based hotel owner Hersha Hospitality Trust for $164.5 million.

The three buildings at 337, 339 and 343 West 39th Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, were constructed together, but operate under different flags.

All three properties went into contract in November and closed Feb. 9, city property records published today show.

Hersha Hospitality raised $110 million for the purchase of the 184-room Hampton Inn at 337 West 39th Street which sold for $55.9 million and the 188-room Candlewood Suites at 339 West 39th Street for $50.8 million.
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Hotel developer Sam Chang has finally lined up a buyer for his three-pack of budget hotels on West 39th Street, The Real Deal has learned. Chang and his company’s COO Gary Wisinski of McSam confirmed they have a deal in the works that’s set to close next month for the three hotels in one building with separate entrances at 337, 339 and 343 West 39th Street. Sources said the buyer is Hersha Hospitality, a Philadelphia-based, publicly traded REIT and an affiliate of the Hersha Trust, which has partnered with McSam before. Last year, Chang boasted to The Real Deal that he and all the Hersha Hospitality Management partners have similar large diamond rings and diamond-encrusted Rolexes. Chang denied Hersha is the buyer, but noted he has signed a strict confidentiality agreement related to the sale. [more]