Hotelier Sam Nazarian scouts out NYC

Sam Nazarian, the U.S. hotelier who played himself on HBO’s “Entourage,” is property-hunting in New York, while he also plans to renovate the Ritz Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach, and reworks debt on a Las Vegas casino. Nazarian, 35, may strike a deal for his SLS Hotel brand in New York City within a year, as the travel industry recovers. He expects to spend $65 million in cash improving the Florida property and is also looking for locations in London, Chicago and Washington, he told Bloomberg in an Aug. 12 interview. “Six months ago, from an investment standpoint, hotels were off the radar,” Nazarian said. “During the last six to eight months, leading with New York, it’s changed because people really believe we hit the bottom.” Nazarian, the CEO of Los Angeles-based SBE, also plans to expand his company’s new high-end extended-stay brand, the Redbury. Scouts in New York are considering two locations and one possibility is converting stalled apartment projects to hotels, he said. [Bloomberg]