Mark Gilbreath of LiquidSpace

Hotels looking to make a profit are increasingly renting out lobbies, business centers and other “nooks” to office workers looking to hold meetings outside the workplace, the New York Times reported.

For example, Marriott is offering what it calls Workspace on Demand at about three dozen of its hotels. The workspaces include high-top tables, alcoves in the lobbies and small meeting spaces. Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Westin chain has introduced a similar concept in two of its hotels in the U.S. [more]

Barry Sternlicht

LNR Property, the nation’s largest manager of distressed commercial real estate loans, has been sold to Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Property in a $1.05 billion deal, Bloomberg News reported. Starwood Property, the largest commercial-mortgage REIT, has agreed to pay $856 million for the majority of LNR’s businesses, which include its U.S. special servicing unit — which oversees more than 1,100 delinquent securitized mortgages — and 50 percent of its stake in Auction.com. Sternlicht’s investment firm, Starwood Capital will buy LNR’s U.S. property-development unit and the other half of the Auction.com interest for $197 million. [more]

John Lam

Developer John Lam has closed on 1227 Broadway for $16 million, Crain’s reported, acquiring the final bit of real estate needed before he embarks on a $300 million hotel project planned for the Fashion District.

Last year, Lam Group, Lam’s firm, purchased the neighboring buildings at 1205 and 1225 Broadway for $72 million. He now owns the entire block fronting on Broadway, between East 29th and East 30th streets, and plans to build both a Marriott Hotel and an Aloft, which is a boutique brand under the Starwood Hotels & Resorts flag, Crain’s said. [more]

1414 Avenue of the Americas (creidt: PropertyShark)

Starwood Capital, led by hospitality icon Barry Sternlicht, is scheduled to face off in court against a boutique Manhattan dental practice amid allegations that the doctors are standing in the way of converting 1414 Avenue of the Americas, at West 58th Street, into a luxury hotel.

In court papers, filed June 29 in Manhattan Supreme Court, Starwood claims it served Manhattan Endodontic Group, which occupies a penthouse space in the building, with an 18-month eviction notice. That was back in January 2011, when the hospitality firm paid $72 million for the building. The dental practice is the only tenant left in the building above the ground floor. But when the practice refused to vacate their 19th floor penthouse suite overlooking Central Park, Starwood filed suit — claiming that the dentists are digging in for a potential payout. [more]

From left: Robert Toll, Barry Sternlicht and renderings of the development (credit: Mayor's office)

Recent press speculations and predictions have been confirmed: Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office today announced the selection of Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital Group to develop a 550,000-square-foot complex at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which will include a 200-room luxury hotel and 159 residential units. The hotel and residential complex will rise 10 stories, and there will be a separate five-story residential building, a city press release says. [more]

Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood Capital Group

Starwood Property Trust, the real estate investment trust led by Barry Sternlicht, reported fourth-quarter earnings of almost $40 million in the fourth quarter, about even with year-ago figures, but said it was reviewing about $1 billion in potential deals and expects to close a majority within the next two months.

The Greenwich, Conn.-based firm said fourth-quarter earnings were $39.8 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with $39.3 million, or 42 cents in the year-ago quarter. Net income, however, tripled to $41 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with year-ago net income of $17.6 million, or 32 cents in the year-ago quarter. [more]

Starwood Capital is raising money for a new investment fund, CEO Barry Sternlicht said yesterday at NYU Schack’s capital markets conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and may also choose to sell a key portfolio as the government discourages the fund from leveraging its assets (see photos from the day-long event above).

“We want to leverage the portfolio and the government doesn’t want us to,” he said. “We’re going to have to sell it because it’s stupid to own it unleveraged. Our leverage levels are less than 30 percent. It’s crazy.”

Starwood previously raised $2.8 billion through two funds in 2010 — the Starwood Global Opportunity Fund VIII, which raised more than $1.8 billion, and the Starwood Capital Global Hospitality Fund II, which raised $965 million, The Real Deal previously reported. … [more]

Developer Steve Cheung purchased a vacant site for $8.3 million where a bankrupt Brooklyn company sought to build a Starwood Aloft Hotel in Long Island City during the real estate boom.

Cheung, president of Elmhurst-based E Home Real Estate, closed this past Friday on the acquisition of the L-shaped parcel at 29-37 41st Avenue that has 205,032 square feet of development rights, he told The Real Deal. The price comes out to about $40.48 per square foot.

Cheung has been developing residential projects for about a decade in Queens, he said, in areas such as Flushing and Ridgewood, including the five-story mixed-use project at 311 Saint Nicholas Avenue in Ridgewood. He recently purchased 70-32 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst for a future project. … [more]

Curbed kicked off the July 4 Hamptons holiday weekend with an opening party last Thursday at the new Banzai Burger at 2095 Montauk Highway on on the Napeague Stretch in Amagansett (see photos above). Hosting were Curbed’s own Lockhart Steele and Nick Leighton. As The Real Deal reported last month, Banzai Burger is the brainchild of well-known hospitality publicist and Hamptons regular Steve Kasuba and restaurateur Alex Duff. The pair signed a 15-year lease for the 3,000-square-foot space, which seats 100 people and is shoes-optional.
– Richard Lewin
… [more]

The landmark 50th Aloft property at 216 Duffield Street, between Willoughby and Fulton streets, is slated to open today after being delayed since the start of 2011, according to Hotel Chatter.
A June stay in the 176-room Downtown Brooklyn hotel, originally scheduled to open in May, starts at $174.30 per night for a king room. There’s a fitness center, free wifi, and rooftop bar with views of the Brooklyn Bridge. … [more]