Hilton Grand Vacations Club on 57th Street at the Manhattan Club on 56th Street

From the August issue: For all the unconventional housing arrangements people devise to afford living in New York City, the timeshare, historically, has not been one of them. There are just two timeshare-only buildings in all of Manhattan.

And, at first blush, the owners of those timeshares — at the 161-unit Hilton Grand Vacations Club on West 57th Street and the 300-unit Manhattan Club on West 56th Street — appear to be struggling.

Since opening in 2009, the Hilton Grand has seen 52 lis pendens, or pre-foreclosure filings, and six foreclosures among its timeshare owners. Meanwhile, the Manhattan Club has witnessed 17 lis pendens and 22 foreclosures since 2007, according to real estate data website PropertyShark. [more]

Bruce Eichner and the Manhattan Club

Five timeshare owners in the Manhattan Club in the Park Central Hotel at 200 West 56th Street, a timeshare condominium resort, are suing developer Bruce Eichner and the club’s other owners for fraud and “breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,” according to court documents, Crain’s reported.

The timeshare owners allege that Eichner is not granting them access to their timeshares, despite booking up to nine months in advance, and is instead renting them out to the general public.

“Through a coordinated and uniform marketing strategy, defendants fraudulently create and maintain the impression that access to and beneficial use of timeshare units in the Manhattan Club is completely or almost completely limited to timeshare ownership interests,” the court filing says, but the reality is allegedly otherwise. [more]

Earlier this month, Manhattan welcomed its newest time share vacation club: West 57th Street by Hilton Club, located at 104 West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The facility is the first ground-up residential shared ownership property ever developed in New York City. West 57th Street by Hilton Club is Hilton Grand Vacations’ newest hotel in the heart of Manhattan. The 28-story building situated on the site of the former Horn & Hardart Automat has a total of 161 studios and one-bedroom suites. The facility offers visitors a
complimentary continental breakfast and presently offers a no-cost
cocktail reception in the evenings. [more]