The Cassa Hotel

[Updated at 12.30 p.m. with a comment from Assa] PCCP has agreed to provide a $65 milion senior loan to finance a Chinese company’s acquisition and repositioning of the Cassa Hotel & Residences at 70 West 45th Street, PCCP announced today.

The Chinese corporation, HNA Property Holding Group, is planning to complete a minor renovation of the building, which is newly constructed and was purchased from the original developer, according to the statement, and rebrand the 165-room hotel as a boutique luxury four-star hotel that will be managed by Viceroy Hotel Group. [more]

The priciest listing at 70 West 45th Street and the cheapest at 225 Bennett Avenue

The priciest listing to hit the market this week is a 3,145-square-foot, four-bedroom condominium unit at 70 West 45th Street, asking $20.3 million. The apartment, which is one of a few available at the Cassa Hotel & Residences, is listed with Ilan Bracha and Eleanora Srugo of Keller Williams NYC.

The least expensive Manhattan listing to hit the market this week is a studio co-op at 225 Bennett Avenue in Hudson Heights that’s asking $169,000. Jennifer Pasbjerg of Halstead Property has the listing. Click here for these and more. -- Katherine Clarke [more]

Chef Laurent Tourondel, of BLT Restaurants fame, is bringing his latest restaurant creation to the Cassa Hotel and Residences, the project’s developer announced today. The concept has yet to be revealed — except that it will be an “American brasserie” serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, as well as drinks in the hotel’s soon-to-open vertical garden. Room service to Cassa’s 165 hotel rooms and 57 condominium residences will also be available. Last month, developer Assa Properties entered into a binding contract to unload the hotel portion of its bankrupt 70 West 45th Street project for $130 million. TRD [more]

Anglo Irish Bank filed a foreclosure suit against Assa Properties, alleging the Manhattan-based developer defaulted on an $18.5 million loan at commercial building 940 Eighth Avenue.

The four-story, 28,400-square-foot building, between 55th and 56th Streets, had been listed for sale since December 2010 at $29 million. The property is listed on the Eastern Consolidated website as in-contract; a spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

According to the suit, filed April 25 in New York State Supreme Court, senior lender Anglo Irish consolidated several prior loans into a single note in November 2007, and set a maturity date of Nov. 18, 2009.
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Assa Properties has inked a “binding” contract to unload the hotel portion of its bankrupt Cassa Hotel and Residences for $130 million, the developer announced today. Assa said the proceeds will be used to pay down the property’s debt, after which the condominium portion of the building — floors 27 through 48, which they say is worth more than $120 million — will be “firmly in their hands.” The buyer was identified in the announcement only as an “international investor,” and a spokesperson for Assa declined to comment further. Earlier this week, Assa’s Waterscape Resorts subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection for the 70 West 45th Street project, which was completed in September 2010 and contains 165 hotel rooms and 57 condos. TRD [more]

The developer of the Cassa NY Hotel and Residences near Times Square has filed for bankruptcy protection for the project, citing legal battles that have made it difficult to move units. According to the Wall Street Journal, Waterscape Resorts, an affiliate of Solly Assa’s Assa Properties, said contractors and subcontractors have filed around $20 million in mechanic’s liens against the condominium-hotel in order to guarantee their payments, hindering sales and causing the developer to default. Cassa, which has 165 hotel rooms and 57 condo units, was completed in September 2010 but had sold only five units by the end of last year. [more]

From left: The Mondrian Soho at 150 Lafeyette Street and the Nolitan at 30 Kenmare Street in Little Italy

There are 37 hotels under construction in Manhattan, according to Lodging Development Group’s 2010 Manhattan development report, 32 of which will open this year and five of which are slated to open next year. A potential oversupply, the 2010 figure is up from 21 properties in 2009 and 12 in 2008. Two hotels set to open this year are the Mondrian Soho at 150 Lafayette Street and the Nolitan at 30 Kenmare Street. There are seven additional projects that have been announced or are in the early planning stages but for which building plans have yet to be filed, including a hotel at the Hudson Yards West site near the Javits Center. TRD [more]

In a bid to attract more foreign buyers, the developer of Midtown condominium-hotel Cassa has hired brokerage Prodigy International to handle sales, replacing new development firm the Marketing Directors. Developer Solly Assa, a head of Assa Properties, told The Real Deal today that Prodigy is now the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the 48-story glass tower, located at 70 West 45th Street. “We’re targeting more of an international client,” he said. “Prodigy is really catering to international consumers.” Assa said that the Marketing Directors sold nearly 40 percent of the project’s 57 condo units since sales began in June. The building was designed by Cetra/Ruddy and TEN Arquitectos, the Mexico City firm headed by Enrique Norten. When completed this spring, it will house 166 hotel rooms operated by Desires Hotels. [more]