Michael Alpert of Ashkenazy Acquisition
Michael Alpert, president and vice chairman of the Ashkenazy Acquisition, wants to open more IHOPs in the New York metro area.
“In 2011, we saw a lot of strength on the leasing side, a lot of interest from the retailers across the portfolio,” he said in a 30-minute interview feature with the New York Times. “And last year, we opened up our first IHOP location, on 14th Street. We hope to open additional IHOP locations.” [more]
Knickerbocker Hotel
The city’s annual list of liens for sale is now out, the New York Post reported, and while the Knickerbocker Hotel, a commercial condominium building undergoing renovation, owes $44,000 in unpaid water charges, the city actually owes money to Vornado Realty Trust, because the real estate investment trust overpaid at some of its properties last year.
The Post said building owners could land on the list for unpaid taxes or for unpaid water and sewer charges, emergency repairs or due to clerical error. [more]
Knickerbocker hotel
When the owners of the former Knickerbocker Hotel divided the structure into two floors of retail condominiums and 14 stories of hotel rooms, they had larger plans in mind. According to the Wall Street Journal the sold the remaining building for $109 million to Texas-based FelCor Lodging Trust, which plans to continue the property’s conversion from Class B office space to a 330-room luxury hotel. [more]
From left: Knickerbocker Hotel and a rendering of the hotel coming to 136 West 42nd Street
The high-profile block of West 42nd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues has long needed an upgrade, according to the New York Post, and after tracking developments on the block it’s clear that progress is being made.
The partnership of Highgate Holdings, Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisitions has completed interior demolition work in its bid to revert the former Knickerbocker Hotel, at 1466 Broadway, back to a luxury hotel from Class B office space. [more]
A joint venture that includes Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisition has segmented the landmarked, 282,000-square-foot Knickerbocker Hotel building near Times Square into three commercial condominiums.
The ownership split the 15-story Beaux-Arts structure at 1466 Broadway on the corner of 42nd Street, into one hotel condo and two retail condos, city property records filed Monday show. The state Attorney General’s office, which regulates condominiums, approved the conversion plan Nov. 10, the papers show.
Chicago-based investor Walton Street Capital partnered with Texas-based hotel owner Highgate Holdings, and Midtown-based Crown and Ashkenazy to purchase the building for $180.5 million in July 2010.
[more]
The Gap, along with several other major retailers, may soon be on their way to the recently-sold Knickerbocker Hotel, Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, told the New York Times. As The Real Deal first reported, Crown acquired the iconic property with Highgate Holdings earlier this month. Chera said its transformation into a 400-room hotel and retail complex should be complete within 24 to 30 months. He also has interests along Fulton Street in Brooklyn, where Crown recently closed a deal on a Long Island University student housing and retail building. Chera said his aim is to turn Fulton Street, the sixth-largest shopping corridor in the city, into “a 24-hour street — a small Times Square.” Other burgeoning submarkets are Red Hook and the World Trade Center neighborhood, said Chera, who is an investor in the long-delayed rebuilding project. “If you’re a developer and you have deep pockets, you could buy any of these office buildings in Lower Manhattan today and in three to five years you’ll make a fortune,” Chera said. [NYT]
The Gap, along with several other major retailers, may soon be on their way to the recently-sold Knickerbocker Hotel, Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, told the New York Times. As The Real Deal first reported, Crown acquired the iconic property with Highgate Holdings earlier this month. Chera said its transformation into a 400-room hotel and retail complex should be complete within 24 to 30 months. He also has interests along Fulton Street in Brooklyn, where Crown recently closed a deal on a Long Island University student housing and retail building. Chera said his aim is to turn Fulton Street, the sixth-largest shopping corridor in the city, into “a 24-hour street — a small Times Square.” Other burgeoning submarkets are Red Hook and the World Trade Center neighborhood, said Chera, who is an investor in the long-delayed rebuilding project. “If you’re a developer and you have deep pockets, you could buy any of these office buildings in Lower Manhattan today and in three to five years you’ll make a fortune,” Chera said. [NYT]
Istithmar World Capital, the investment arm of the Dubai government, has defaulted on its $300 million mortgage on the former Knickerbocker Hotel site in Times Square and turned the property over to its lender. Istithmar had been planning to convert the site’s 300,000-square-foot office building back into a high-end hotel, and now that Dubai is out of the picture, vulture investors are reportedly chomping at the bit to take the helm at a steep discount. The lender, Danske Bank A/S, hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the property, and the brokerage’s Ben Singer said interest has been high. One such interested bidder is said to be Sitt Asset Management, which owned the building before Istithmar bought it in 2006. Istithmar had stopped renewing leases in the office building there, known as 1466 Broadway, and had also purchased an adjacent vacant lot for $76 million, as part of its hotel conversion plan. The building is now almost 50 percent vacant, according to research firm CoStar. Dan Fasulo, managing director for Real Capital Analytics, said the property would be best-used as a hotel. He said the first mortgage note is valued at $290 million, though the property could be worth less than that because it is in need of renovations. [WSJ]
As the international credit crisis spread into the kingdom of the United Arab Emirates, real estate experts said that while any direct impact on New York would be limited, it may signal the inability of sovereign wealth funds to bail out distressed assets here. The financial world briefly shuddered last week after Dubai World, the main investment arm of the powerful Gulf region city-state, asked lenders for a six-month suspension of nearly $60 billion in debt payments. Analysts say the suspension may force Dubai to sell many of its trophy assets around the world, including several high-profile buildings in New York, like the Jumeriah Essex House, the former Knickerbocker Hotel and the flagship W New York-Union Square hotel, whose mezzanine debt is scheduled for a Dec. 8 foreclosure auction. “Dubai got drunk with debt just like we did here in New York,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director of research at Manhattan-based investment research firm Real Capital Analytics. “A lot of people think Dubai [was financing its deals with] oil. In actuality, it was very much of a debt-fueled building boom.” [more]
To the investors hoping to score one of Dubai’s prized Manhattan properties as the beleaguered city-state struggles to climb out of its $59 billion debt hole, analysts are saying: not so fast. In order to sell any of its five Manhattan properties, Dubai World, the government’s holding company, would be taking a big hit, which might not be wise. The Knickerbocker Hotel building, which the company bought for $300 million in 2006, is half-empty and worth “nothing,” one source told the Post’s Steve Cuozzo. “They’re going to take a huge hit if they sell,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics. “They’re going to get wiped out.” Dubai World may also be underwater at 450 Lexington Avenue, where the company has a 99-year leasehold, purchased in 2006 for $600 million. Meanwhile, the W Hotel Union Square, bought for $285 million in 2005, was scheduled for a Dec. 8 foreclosure auction. [Post]
