Co-living firm to embark on Hudson Hotel redevelopment

CSC Coliving spearheading 438-unit project

CSC Coliving co-founder Sal Smeke and the shuttered Hudson Hotel at 356 West 58th Street (CSC Coliving, LoopNet, Getty Images)
CSC Coliving co-founder Sal Smeke and the shuttered Hudson Hotel at 356 West 58th Street (CSC Coliving, LoopNet, Getty Images)

The future of Midtown’s Hudson Hotel is coming into focus.

CSC Coliving, a firm that provides affordable housing to young residents, is spearheading the redevelopment of the shuttered hotel at 356 West 58th Street, Crain’s reported. The co-living firm is planning to create 438 units at the 362,000-square-foot building.

It was reported in May that an undisclosed buyer picked up the property for $207 million. The seller was Eldridge Industries, which had appointed Cain International to lead a strategic repositioning of the aged hotel in 2020.

CSC is redeveloping the 24-story hotel, but it wasn’t the buyer. That distinction belongs to Montgomery Street Partners; CSC agreed to a contract, but flipped it to Montgomery to close the sale and secure financing. CSC then agreed to a 99-year lease with Montgomery to redevelop the property — financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.

The 866-key hotel closed at the beginning of the pandemic, sealing off a long legacy. It was built in 1929 as the American Women’s Association clubhouse, a residence for young women. About a decade later, it was converted into the Henry Hudson Hotel. In 1997, Morgans Hotel Group acquired the property and transformed it into Hudson New York Hotel.

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In 2014, Morgans Hotel Group was reportedly considering marketing the property, hoping to reel in $440 million. A sale never transpired, though, and the hotel was part of a $425 million refinancing deal in 2017, months after SBE and partners Yucaipa and Cain Hoy closed on an $800 million acquisition of Morgans Hotel Group.

Eldridge ultimately purchased the hotel from SBE in 2020.

Duval and Stachenfeld LLP negotiated the lease agreement on behalf of Montgomery. A broker from Parkview Financial, one of the lenders, previously said the developer was looking at smaller unit sizes in order to market units at a 20 percent discount compared to other nearby options.

CSC boasts investments in more than 10,000 properties across the United States and Mexico. The Manhattan-based firm identifies assets for potential affordable housing opportunities for renters, then provides investment capital for coliving projects.

The company’s featured properties include the 16-unit Lafayette House in Bedford-Stuyvesant and The Callery on the Upper East Side.

— Holden Walter-Warner