Schrager, Witkoff snag $173M refinancing of Public hotel

Deutsche Bank provided the partners

The Witkoff Group CEO Steven Witkoff and hotelier Ian Schrager with 215 Chrystie Street
The Witkoff Group CEO Steven Witkoff and hotelier Ian Schrager with 215 Chrystie Street (Credit: Getty Images and Google Images)

The Witkoff Group and hotelier Ian Schrager refinanced their luxury Public hotel-condominium project on the Lower East Side.

Deutsche Bank provided the firm with a $173.25 million loan for the property at 215 Chrystie Street, according to property records filed Thursday. The debt replaces previous financing from Starwood Capital Group, which in 2017 provided the same amount for the project.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Schrager and the Witkoff Group did not immediately return requests for comment. Newmark Knight Frank’s Jordan Roeschlaub and Dustin Stolly, who brokered the debt, also declined to comment.

The 28-story project, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, has a 370-room hotel and 11 luxury condos. The largest unit, a 4,300-square-foot three-bedroom penthouse, was listed for $23.5 million and sold last year for $19 million, property records show.

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The development’s oversized windows have somewhat been a source of trouble. In 2017, Lower East Side residents told the New York Post that they could see the hotel’s guests having sex.

“Not like I’m a peeping Tom, but from the corner of my eye, you can see this going on four times a week,” one neighbor said a the time.

The two firms picked up the site for $50 million in 2012 from Rubin Schron.

Rich Bockmann contributed reporting.