Westbrook Partners landed a $280 million loan to refinance the Ritz-Carlton at 50 Central Park South, ahead of a planned renovation next year.
Delaware Life Insurance Company, Korean lender Nonghyup Bank and others provided the financing, which will include a $67.5 million gap, according to property records and the Korea Economic Daily.
The loan will also pave the way for a renovation and will allow Westbrook to retire a previous $135 million loan taken from Delaware Life in 2015.
Until 1999, the hotel was operated as the Hotel St. Moritz, before undergoing a renovation and reopening in 2002 as the Ritz-Carlton, which operated the lower 12 floors. The upper 13 floors are privately owned.
Westbrook acquired a controlling stake for $105 million in 2012 from Millennium Partners, which retained an interest in the 259-room building. Last year, the firm began searching for about $300 million in financing.
The company has added a handful of properties to its portfolio in recent years, including major stakes in office buildings at 1375 Broadway and 31 Penn Plaza in 2015. This came six months after its $60 million acquisition of the Standish Hotel in Brooklyn Heights. [Korea Economic Daily] — David Jeans