Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and the Plaza Hotel
The widely reported $600 million offer for the Plaza hotel would not include the stake controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, according to Bloomberg News. Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company had sold the Plaza to the Elad Group for $675 million in 2004, but then bought back a portion soon after, a spokesperson for the firm said. [more]
Clockwise from left: Dina Lewis and Sonia Stock of Elliman; Corcoran's Meris Blumstein, Elliman's Melanie Lazenby and guest; High tea spread; A guest (right) with Melanie Lazenby and Dina Lewis (left); a royal picture in the apartment's main dining room
Power brokers such as Prudential Douglas Elliman’s director of sales Chris Peters, senior vice president Sonia Stock and the Corcoran Group’s Meris Blumstein sipped green tea and nibbled on scones and lemon curd today at a high-tea, low-key broker lunch inside one of the most historic homes at the residences at the Plaza Hotel.
Elliman duo Melanie Lazenby and Dina Lewis had invited a small pack of heavy hitters to view their exclusive $165,000-a-month, 5,087-square-foot rental listing (see photos after the jump), which is owned by Esprit CEO Esprit founder Jurgen Friedrich (who wasn’t in attendance). 1 Comment
From left: Christian Candy, the Plaza and the $25.4 million penthouse
Elad’s final residential apartment in the Plaza Hotel, a three-level penthouse that was nearly sold three separate times, has finally sold for $25.4 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The 6,300-square-foot condominium unit, listed by Stribling & Associates broker Alexa Lambert, was bought by British property developer Christian Candy, famous for building London’s One Hyde Park. Candy, who was represented by Corcoran Group broker Louis Buckworth, said he coveted the unit for its iconic location and plans to use it as a home as he begins to explore development opportunities in the city. [more]
The Plaza Hotel
Menswear designer Angelo Galasso has leased the landmarked Edwardian Room at the Plaza Hotel to use as retail space, according to a statement from the tenant’s broker received today.
The Italian fashion brand signed a 12-year lease for the 4,720-square-foot space last month, representatives for Crown Retail Services, who brokered the lease on behalf of the tenant, said. [more]
From the November issue: You’ve likely zipped past 250 West Street while driving up the West Side Highway. The former fruit-and-vegetable warehouse has arched windows, iron shutters and the words “West Street” stenciled on its Hudson River-facing façade.
The brick building — which takes up an entire square block between Washington Street and the highway — was for years an administrative space for Citibank. Then, in 2006, it was purchased by the Elad Group, the Israeli developer famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) for converting the Plaza Hotel into condos.
Elad started construction on converting 250 West into apartments in June 2011, and just one month later, with a good year left on that construction, the units were brought to the market. So far, so good, said Ariana Meyerson, managing director of Cantor Pecorella, which is marketing the property. As of last month, 250 West had sold 25 of its 106 units, with 11 in contract. [more]
Brothers Gilbert and Jean-Louis Costes, whose Parisian hospitality empire includes Hotel Costes and the celebrity eatery L’Avenue, are eyeing New York’s iconic Oak Room and Oak Bar in the Plaza Hotel for another Costes hotspot, the New York Post reported.
Before making an offer however, they want to make sure they have permission to make “modest” changes to the landmarked trophy interior, including adding additional bathroom space for patrons, the Post said.
The former owner of the Plaza Hotel’s Oak Room, Eli Gindi, decided to close the restaurant amid a bitter dispute with the landlord earlier this year. According to the New York Times, Gindi gave the Plaza a 90-day notice of departure in April, after landlord Elad Group said the Oak Room would have to either cancel its lucrative “Day and Night” Saturday afternoon parties or pay more than twice its current rent. [Post] [more]
Private equity firm the Blackstone Group has raised about $3 billion for a new real-estate fund and expects a first closing for its seventh real-estate fund in the third quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Overall, the firm has indicated, it is targeting about $10 billion for the fund.
The firm said second-quarter profit more than tripled on gains in the value of its buyout and real estate investments, Bloomberg News reported, with profit increasing to $703 million, or 63 cents per share, from $205 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.
“A material portion of the increase in revenues was due to the impact of the ‘catch-up’ provisions of the real estate funds’ profit allocations,” Blackstone said in the statement. [more]
Developer the Elad Group has unveiled its first new condominium building in New York since 2006. The condo, at 250 West Street, will have 111 units in a renovated 11-story warehouse occupying an entire block from West Street to Washington Street in Tribeca, the New York Times reported, and is set to be completed by the fall of 2012.
Units will range from 1,250-square-foot studios to 5,000-square-foot four-bedrooms, said Tom Elliott, vice president of Elad, as well as a penthouse with its own garage and elevator. The apartments would most likely be listed for $2 million to $10 million, he said.
Elad, which is behind the embattled conversion of the Plaza Hotel, recently sold the last condo at the 181-unit Plaza.
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Miki Naftali, the CEO and president of Israeli real estate and hotel development conglomerate Elad Group, announced last week that he would step down from the role he’s held for more than a decade in order to start his own company, and The Real Deal got him on the phone to find out more. Naftali, who will retain a 49 percent stake in New York subsidiary Elad Properties, chatted about his new real estate venture, the Naftali Group, and about what will become of Elad in his absence. Meanwhile, Naftali sought to quash rumors that recent retail struggles at the Plaza Hotel — the revival of which was the hallmark of his tenure, at least as far as New York City is concerned — had anything to do with his departure. Click here for the Q & A.
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With the controversial Miki Naftali stepping down from the Plaza’s helm, the recent record $48 million sale of a 12th-floor spread, and the pre-Lehman-esque $37.5 million asking price on the penthouse unit, it appears the landmark building has steered clear of the financial storm. But according to the Observer, the Plaza is still stuck in choppy waters. The primary concern is the retail spaces on the coveted Fifth Avenue lot. The Oak Room is closing in July, the Palm Court, which opened last year, has already shuttered, the Edwardian Room has been looking for a new tenant for years and the Shops at the Plaza are mostly vacant, having already gone through two cycles of retailers. Prudential Douglas Elliman retail broker Faith Hope Consolo simply asked, “Why would you want to be in this maze when you could be on Fifth Avenue?” [more]
