Westgate Resorts has purchased the former site of the Hilton New York Grand Central for $50 million, according to sources familiar with the deal.
The firm announced on Wednesday that it had acquired the 300-key hotel at 304 East 42nd Street, with plans to rebrand it as Westgate New York City. This marks the first urban hotel in the company’s portfolio, according to Westgate CEO David Siegel.
The 23-story, two-tower hotel opened in 1931 and was known as the Hotel Tudor and Hilton Manhattan East before being branded the Hilton New York Grand Central. Westgate plans to make extensive renovations to the property, but it will continue operating it as a hotel.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Tom McConnell, Jared Kelso, Steve Michels, John Basting and Nikita Bernstein brokered the deal on behalf of the seller, listed in records as Tudor Equity Associates LP, connected to Lone Star Funds.
Westgate has been a player in the timeshare industry for decades but has recently started focusing more on hotels.
The hotel hit the market in October, and bids were expected to reach $75 million. Rhode Island-based Procaccianti Group reportedly paid $109 million for the hotel in 2007, before the recession hit.
Manhattan has seen tens of thousands of new hotel rooms in recent years, and average daily room rates just rose for the first time since 2014 in the first quarter of the year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Supply went up during the first three months by just 2.8 percent, the lowest increase since the beginning of 2015.