The U.S. real estate arm of international investment firm Investcorp has purchased the mezzanine debt on the Paramount Hotel at 245 West 46th Street from San Francisco-based Fillmore Capital Partners, GlobeSt.com reported. The debt includes two existing mezzanine loans with a principal balance of $40 million.

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Holding bought the Paramount Hotel for $275 million from Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings earlier this year.

“We’re pleased to have had a chance to provide financing for a transaction involving one of New York City’s most renowned hotels, and one that is in a particularly attractive location,” Christopher Hoeffel, a managing director at Investcorp, in a statement. [more]

From the August issue: During the boom, when no Manhattan neighborhood seemed vulnerable to the economy, hotel deals seemed to pop up on every corner of Manhattan — no matter how far-flung.

Now, though, as the market recovers, deal-making in Manhattan’s chief central business district — Midtown — has seen more hotel activity, and larger deals, than any other part of Manhattan, sources say.

The area — which stretches from 34th to 65th streets and river to river — has seen “a number of high-dollar-amount deals,” said John Fox, a hotel industry specialist at PKF Consulting.

A handful of these Midtown deals involve ground-up construction of new hotels, though most involve investors and developers snapping up older properties, including brands like the Algonquin and the Paramount, with the intention of renovating them.

Midtown’s hot streak has been partly fueled by hotel-focused real estate investment trusts. [more]

Adding to a portfolio that includes the Seagram Building and Lever House, developer Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding has bought the Paramount Hotel for $275 million from Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
RFR had an incentive to buy, the Journal said, taking advantage of a tax law by reinvesting proceeds from a recent sale to defer a capital-gains payment. [more]

Midtown’s Paramount Hotel is set to hit the auction block, according to Crain’s. The hotel, located 235 West 46th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, is currently owned by Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings, the latter of which is expected to retain a stake in the building. The 597-room hotel is expected to draw numerous bidders. Although it was not immediately clear how much the hotel is expected to net at auction, hotel investors are increasingly interested in the New York City market, according to John Fox, a senior vice president at PKF Consulting. [more]

Danny Meyer debuted Maialino at the Gramercy Hotel in November.

From the January issue: Hotel developers are planning to boost business at their Manhattan
restaurants this year with one special ingredient: the glamour of
brand-name chefs. Celebrity chef and hotel pairings have been popular in New York
since the late ’90s, but in the weak economy, the trend is
accelerating.
This month, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant Mark
Jean-Georges is set to open in the Mark Hotel. That follows Danny
Meyer’s November debut of Maialino at the Gramercy Hotel, and a report
last month confirming rumors that Todd English will run the food court
at the Plaza. Also late last year, foodies salivated over acclaimed chef April
Bloomfield’s opening of the Breslin at the Ace Hotel on 29th Street. In
addition, the East Side Social Club in the Pod Hotel has been
attracting high-profile guests. more

From left: the Paramount Hotel at 235-245 West 46th Street, La MaMa Experimental Theatre at 72 East 4th Street, and the two townhouses at 145 and 147 Eighth Avenue

Four new Manhattan spots garnered landmark status yesterday, with the Landmarks Preservation Commission announcing the designation of the Paramount Hotel, La MaMa Expertimental Theatre Club and two Eighth Avenue townhouses yesterday. The hotel, at 235-245 West 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, was designed by famed architect Thomas Lamb and was built in 1927 and 1928. The Paramount was originally endorsed for landmarking in June this year, with the support of Community Board 5. While La MaMa Experimental Theatre club, which houses a theater and art gallery, didn’t move into its space at 72 East 4th Street until approximately 40 years after the Paramount first rose, its building had housed prominent German cultural organizations from when it first opened in 1873. The two townhouses that received landmark status, 145 and 147 Eighth Avenue between 17th and 18th streets, were both constructed in the first half of the 19th century. One Staten Island site, the Vanderzee-Harper House, was also granted landmark status. Up next for the commission’s consideration are the Greyston Estate gatehouse in the Bronx and the site of the 11th Street Methodist Episcopal Chapel in the East Village, the Observer reported.