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Rockpoint, Highgate to develop Meatpacking hotel
Duo sign 99-year lease deal with Meilmans to build on West 15th Street
The Boston-based Rockpoint Group and its operating partner Highgate Holdings will develop a vacant lot in the Meatpacking District on land that is leased for 99 years by Meilman Family Real Estate, sources told The Real Deal.
To gain a foothold in the site, the Rockpoint Group inked the long-term lease with the Meilman firm, headed by Cliff and Richard Meilman, where it will develop a hotel at 412 West 15th Street, between Ninth and Tenth avenues, with Highgate.
The Meilmans have owned property in the neighborhood since the days when it was a hub for meat distribution.
The new developers will spearhead the project on a parcel where a hotel has been in the works for some time. The Meilmans filed plans in 2008 to build a 25-story, 158-room hotel with 108,979 square feet at the site, and the city issued permits for the project in 2009. It was not clear if the new developers would build that hotel or file new plans. The financial terms of the deal were not available.
Rockpoint and Highgate also own the Manhattan at Times Square hotel together, where they plan to add an additional 23 stories to the building at 790 Seventh Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets.
Highgate was a partner in several of the largest property purchases in the city last year, including the $660 million acquisition of The Helmsley Park Lane Hotel at 36 Central Park South and 650 Madison Avenue for $1.3 billion.
The neighborhood has several trendy hotels, including the 330-unit Standard High Line at 848 Washington Street which was reported to have sold last month for $400 million, and the Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC.
“We look forward to working with the Meilmans to maximize the value of this exceptional property,” a spokesperson for Rockpoint said in a statement to TRD. Rockpoint declined to comment beyond the statement.
The Meilmans, through an outside spokesperson, Michele de Milly, said “as longtime participants in the Meatpacking District’s exciting evolution, Meilman Family Real Estate is delighted to partner with Rockpoint Group in the development of their 15th Street property.”