Stanley Chera dishes on the Knickerbocker

Stanley Chera

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]

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