The neon sign atop the Essex House may stay, but the name won’t. Strategic Hotels & Resorts confirmed its reported purchase of the former Jumeirah Essex House at 160 Central Park South for the price of $362.3 million and said it would flag the hotel with Manhattan’s first JW Marriott, Bloomberg News reported.
Marriott signed a 50-year management agreement to operate the property, to be named the JW Marriott Essex House, and guaranteed a net operating income of as much as $21.5 million annually for eight years. The deal, financed with a $190 million loan from Bank of America, is expected to close by Sept. 7. Strategic will spend about $18.3 million on renovations and a marketing campaign.
Strategic bought the 509 hotel rooms and nine condominium units for $685,000 per unit from Dubai Investment Group, which purchased the entire property in 2005, from Strategic, for $440 million and spent $90 million on a renovation and partial condo conversion. Crain’s said the new owners are considering additional financing options to raise cash for the project, including a possible joint partnership or property sales. [Bloomberg] and [Crain’s] — Adam Fusfeld