Kansas-based hotel and asset management firm Lodgeworks, manager of the Sierra Suites Hotel Collection and Aloft hotels among others, has closed on its purchase of a commercial office building at 45-47 West 38th Street for $16 million, according to public records filed with the city today.
Lodgeworks plans to open a hotel on the site in the next two years, Roy Baker, senior vice president of the company, said, though he declined to elaborate further on plans. The purchase appears to be Lodgeworks’ first in Manhattan, according to its website.
There were four separate New York-based sellers listed on record, including a company that appears to be hotel chain Howard Johnson, working under the name Utica Avenue Hotel LLC, which held a 70.8 percent interest in the property. Howard Johnson was not immediately available for comment. [more]

Extell President Gary Barnett and a
rendering of the hotel

Extell Development has begun building a Midtown Hyatt hotel at 135 West 45th Street that some had predicted might never happen, the New York Post reported.

The midblock site between Sixth Avenue and Times Square had sat dormant despite Extell Development having assembled the land and air rights and poured a foundation. Now, the arrival of a tower crane at the site indicates movement.

The Real Deal previously reported that the 50-story hotel project would go ahead despite the company having sold off 11 commercial property lots in Midtown for approximately $125.16 million, including the hotel site.  According to documents filed with the city in July, the buyer in the bulk property sale, which included lots on 45th and 46th streets, was HHC TS REIT LLC. [more]

Sharing a name with your father might make it hard to climb out from under his shadow, especially if that shadow is huge, which is certainly the case with broker Walt Frazier.

His father, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, is the player who led the New York Knicks basketball team to its only two championships, in 1970 and 1973, and who currently provides in-game commentary for Knicks games on the MSG Network.

But Frazier isn’t complaining about being linked with his famous dad. In fact, since 2010, the pair has lived side-by-side in penthouses in a converted condominium in Harlem, at West 129th Street and Lenox Avenue. And a third next-door penthouse serves as an office for Walt Frazier Enterprises, which advises young deep-pocketed athletes how to invest well. [more]

From left: Lenox Avenue and 125th Street, the second section of the High Line and 3 Columbus Circle

From the January issue: Home and office markets in New York improved in the last year, even if the signs of progress were measured in baby steps. Rental buildings scaled back incentives, distressed-debt investors sank their money into stalled condo projects, and office vacancies appeared to inch down in prime areas. Those trends should continue through the New Year, according to brokers, developers and urban policy experts, even if things won’t look like the heyday of the mid-2000s before Lehman Brothers collapsed. To gauge the rebound’s staying power, keep an eye on these 10 projects and deals over the next 12 months. [more]

Two vacant, adjoining lots in Downtown Brooklyn are on the market, as a plan to build a Hyatt Place Hotel there has yet to materialize, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. The lots at 32-40 Nevins Street are being marketed for $5 million, according to a listing on the Massey Knakal Realty Services website. Buildings had been demolished there to make way for the planned 176-room hotel, which was slated to open in the first quarter of 2011. Gary Wisinski, a spokesperson for the McSam Hotel Group, said that his company hasn’t dropped its plan to build on the site, despite the fact that it’s listed for sale. “Our properties are always for sale,” Wisinski said. “We are a merchant developer, a company that builds buildings and then sells them.” Wisinski said that the Downtown Brooklyn hotel is still in the cards, and that McSam plans to break ground “when we have the money.” [Brooklyn Eagle]

[more]

The option of
rent-to-own is now
available at 75 Wall Street, the condo on top of Hyatt’s new Andaz
hotel. In the program, the first full year of rent can go towards the
purchase price of the residence. Hakimian
Organization, Peykar Brothers Realty and Gorjian Properties developed
75 Wall. The
building has 349 condo units, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms.
According to Streeteasy.com, prices for available units range
from $625,000 to $7.75 million. TRD
[more]

Hyatt Hotel & Resorts is opening two new hotels in the next year
under its new brand called Andaz. One hotel is scheduled to open across
from Bryant Park on 41st Street and Fifth Avenue early next year, and
the second, at 75 Wall Street, is slated to open
in September. The 41st Street hotel will offer time share units on the
top floors, and the downtown hotel, converted from the former JP Morgan Chase building, will have 253 rooms, with condo units on
the 18th through 42nd floors. The Real Deal reported last week that developer Sam Chang filed plans for a 225-key Hyatt Place hotel at 208-210 East 52nd Street. [more]