Hotel developer Sam Chang and 440 West 41st Street (building photo source: PropertyShark)

Hotel developer Sam Chang sold a 13-story Hell’s Kitchen building being operated quietly as a hotel to Israeli investors as part of a complex deal in which Hersha Hospitality Trust took title to a Chang hotel in Tribeca and wiped out nearly $20 million of his development loans.
Chang’s H Forty First Street LLC, sold the Hell’s Kitchen property at 440 West 41st Street for $17.5 million to a company owned by Israeli investors called US Suite on March 5, city property records published Monday show.
Although Chang sold the property March 5, he signed a sales contract Dec. 15 and ceded operations to US Suite on Dec. 22, when he signed over a net lease on the property, city records show. [more]

Over the past decade, a number of prominent Israeli investors have had their ups and downs investing in New York City real estate. Some of these investors who have experienced hardships include Yair Levy, Shaya Boymelgreen and Africa Israel Investments, controlled by Lev Leviev, the company which purchased the former New York Times Building in Times Square. While foreign investors with billions of dollars of capital sit on the sidelines, a few new Israeli investors are testing the Manhattan commercial real estate waters. With prices at record lows, these investors hope to capitalize on the record low prices of property in New York City. Later this month, Israeli company, IDB Holdings, controlled by Nochi Dankner, and partner Joseph Cayre plan to close on the purchase of the HSBC Bank Tower headquarters at 452 Fifth Avenue.

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