Reuben Brothers pick up Surrey Hotel at a discount

British billionaires David and Simon Reuben are getting a bargain on a New York City hotel.

Reuben Brothers, the investors’ private equity firm, is purchasing the Surrey Hotel at 20 East 76th Street for less than its $215 million asking price, Bloomberg reported. The ritzy hotel filed for involuntary bankruptcy earlier this year, when Ashkenazy Acquisitions, the ground lease holder, filed for Chapter 11 after the hotel operator missed payments.

At the time, lawyers for Ashkenazy accused the operator of seeking to “take advantage of a worldwide crisis as a means to take back the valuable ground lease.” The bankruptcy trustee for the hotel terminated Ashkenazy’s leasehold in August.

The purchase is the latest push into U.S. real estate by the Reubens. The pair just finished a round of hospitality financing, purchasing stakes in three hotels in Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas. In 2015, they bought the Sahara Group’s debt on the Plaza and Dream hotels in New York and London’s Grosvenor House for $800 million.

Earlier this year, the Reubens purchased a retail condo from SL Green for $170 million, as the real estate investment trust sought to beef up its cash reserves.

[Bloomberg] — Georgia Kromrei