Sam Chang sells leasehold on Midtown hotel for $22M

Sam Chang’s McSam Hotel Group has sold its leasehold on a Midtown hotel to a west coast-based hospitality company.

The company sold 337 West 36th Street for $22.15 million to Pineapple Hospitality through an assignment of lease, according to property records. The company is based in Bellevue, Washington and currently has nine hotels across the country, most of which are on the west coast and four of which are in Seattle, according to its website. This appears to be its first project in New York City.

Omnibuild had filed plans in 2014 to build a 23-story, 83-key Comfort Inn spanning nearly 30,000 square feet on the site, and the McSam Hotel Group took over these filings in December of that year. The property received its initial temporary certificate of occupancy in July and currently has 89 units.

Chang’s company and its partners still own the fee to the land, but Pineapple Hospitality has the right to buy it until October 31, 2020, according to a memorandum of lease that was filed in 2015.

Pineapple Hospitality will brand the hotel as the Alise New York and is in the process of updating its look, according to spokeswoman Sarah Francis. Amenities will include complimentary pineapple cupcakes and high-speed WiFi.

Chang did not respond to a request for comment.

The McSam Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel developers in New York City. The firm bought a Long Island City development site at 38-47 9th Street in June for $10.2 million, where it plans to build a hotel. The company also has hotel projects in the neighborhood at 38-39 9th Street and 38-04 11th Street.