Hotelier Sam Chang’s bet on the hotel market around LaGuardia Airport is taking flight.
Chang’s Great Neck-based McSam Hotel Group paid $37.6 million for the Holiday Inn LaGuardia Airport in Queens, property records show. The seller was hotelier Michael Pomeranc, who purchased the property in 1999.
The eight-story, 214-key hotel, located at 37-10 114th Street in Corona, spans 118,300 square feet, according to Real Capital Analytics.
Chang secured a $21 million loan from Maxim Capital Group to finance the deal, according to public records.
It’s not Chang’s only bet on airport hotels. He already controls five hotels stationed around John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Earlier this year, Chang announced a partnership with Marriott on five new, ground-up hotels across the city, including a planned 350-room Marriott at JFK. Other locations will be at 538 West 58th and 322-326 West 44th streets in Hell’s Kitchen, 100 Greenwich Street in the Financial District and 338 West 36th Street in the Garment District. In July, Chang picked up a $115 million construction loan from Bank of the Ozarks to build a 28-story hotel at 338 West 36th Street.
Hotel development near New York City-area airports is booming. Hospitality research firm STR last year projected at least 50 new hotels would open in Queens by 2019. Current projects near LaGuardia include the redevelopment of the LaGuardia Airport Hotel in East Elmhurst into a 93-room IBIS Styles Hotel and a 148-room Aloft Hotel.